Vol. 636 No. 3
1 Mr. Hogan asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the role played by civil servants in his Department in the preparation of the document entitled Keeping Ireland Working: The Next Steps Forward; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15709/07]
This is a long reply. My advisers and I prepared the Fianna Fáil enterprise policy document entitled Keeping Ireland Working: The Next Steps Forward. Other than the engagement by my advisers, I did not ask any civil servant working in my Department to become involved in the preparation of the document nor did any civil servant of my Department become involved in the preparation of this policy document.
Clear evidence exists with regard to these matters which was brought to the attention of the Minister and the Taoiseach by the leader of Fine Gael in recent days. It is clearly marked on the document released last week that the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment was involved in some way in drawing it up. It is for this reason and because the Minister engaged civil servants in political matters in the past that I brought this matter to his attention again. It is not acceptable to bring the Civil Service into the political arena. All sides of the House respect civil servants for the work they do as part of the permanent Government. Evidence suggested to us that the Minister again engaged civil servants in political activity.
I sincerely ask the Deputy to withdraw the allegations. It is pathetic and illustrative of a bankruptcy of ideas that the Deputy must descend to this as is the idea his party leader would raise this matter of a computer glitch. My advisers formulated this document and sent it via electronic mail. If Fine Gael's super-sleuths examined it more closely, they would have seen the initials of the person concerned.
The Minister is getting complacent.
It is unfair and the allegation should be withdrawn. It is like Forrest Gump claiming he found the files on Nixon. It is pathetic and ridiculous. I must take issue with the idea that Deputy Hogan would table a priority question on something he knows to be complete nonsense, and I know from his demeanour that he knows it to be so.
I do not know that.
I must also take issue with his reference to "previous issues" by which he obviously means the technical briefing an official from the Department attended in the context of the groceries order. The Government corresponded with the Standards in Public Office Commission on this matter. As part of subsequent ongoing correspondence, a letter was sent to the Taoiseach from the Standards in Public Office Commission which provides important clarification. I will not read the entire letter which is dated 17 November 2006. It states:
In the light of its view that technical briefings by civil servants should be provided on an all-party basis, it notes your reference to the provision of such briefings on request to members of any or all of the parties.
In particular, it notes the advice you have given to Ministers and Ministers of State in respect of the provision of briefings by civil servants to a group of members set up by a parliamentary party to deal with a particular issue relevant to the briefing being provided. The Standards Commission considers that the provision of briefings by civil servants at parliamentary party committee meetings in the circumstances envisaged in your letter is consistent with their obligations under the Civil Servants' Code of Standards and Behaviour. However, it is of the opinion that attendance at such meetings should only occur where the Secretary General or Head of Office considers it appropriate.
With regard to the groceries order briefing, all of this was fulfilled. The Secretary General of the Department approved the presence and attendance of the civil servant, just as at other times when I and Deputy Hogan's party leader had briefings from the Health Service Executive and various parliamentary parties were also briefed by the National Treatment Purchase Fund. There is nothing wrong with this.
This did not involve using civil servants for political purposes and it is wrong of Deputy Hogan to state it did. This represents smear tactics of an unseemly kind and Deputy Hogan is dragging in innocent independent people. I did not want to end our last Question Time with this. I answered the question factually at the beginning and Deputy Hogan continued to make these baseless allegations. They should be withdrawn.
I do not have a notion of withdrawing what the evidence suggests, which is that the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment was involved in some way in drawing up documentation for political purposes which led to the launch of the document last week.
An unprecedented full meeting of the Minister's parliamentary party——
It was not a full meeting.
I know the Minister sees nothing wrong with this. For the past hour and a half we listened to two Cabinet Ministers, the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, and the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, seeking the approval of the Oireachtas for commission of investigation inquiries. I applaud them for doing so. Nobody seems to take responsibility for much, particularly the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
Deputy Hogan must ask a supplementary question. We are running out of time on this question.
I wish to make a comment. I did not want to bring this unsavoury matter to the attention of the House. However, it happened before. Will the Minister undertake that during the next three weeks he will observe the type of political demarkation standards we expect to see whereby the political head of a Department and the Civil Service will be able to do their business at arm's length?
I resent very much the implication in Deputy Hogan's question and reject it out of hand. I have absolutely no intention of giving any credence to baseless smear tactics from the Fine Gael Party. This is pathetic and ridiculous.
The Minister will use the Civil Service.
An adviser under the Acts and codes is quite entitled to assist a Minister late at night or at whatever time. Deputy Hogan knows this as does everybody. We are discussing an electronic communication from an adviser to a Fianna Fáil Party official as part of preparation of a document. If one presses "file" and then "property" one sees the author. This is what we are discussing.
Slippery standards.
Deputy Hogan is making a big song and dance pretending and creating the aura that civil servants were involved when he knows full well that no civil servants were involved.
It happened before.
It did not happen before. The Standards in Public Office Commission in its letter to the Taoiseach in November confirms my point that we are quite within the parameters of what is contained in the letter. It is unseemly of the Deputy to do this and he should withdraw it.
I have no intention of doing so.
He is casting aspersions on people and he should not do so. It brings politics into disrepute.
Do not get into that.
Deputy Twomey is a Johnny-come-lately to the blueshirts.
We are properly briefed.
I was able to read a newspaper when Charlie Haughey was around and it has not changed much since then with you lot.
2 Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if his attention has been drawn to the fact that Irish workers have fewer public holidays than workers in most EU countries; if he will increase the number of public holidays from nine to 11 in order to bring workers here up to the EU average; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15644/07]
The Organisation of Working Time Act 1997, which implemented EU Council Directive 93/104/EC, of 23 November 1993, concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time, provides for an entitlement to nine public holidays per annum.
Publication of data by the European Employment Observatory shows a wide variation in the number of public holidays among EU member states. The average public holiday entitlement in the EU at present is approximately 11 days per annum. Variations in the number of public holidays must be considered in the context of other factors which may bear on this matter including for example, the relationship with annual holiday entitlement, whether statutorily based or obtained by way of collective agreements. Some entitlements also stem from the legacy of historical and religious developments of specific and differing societies.
Were an increase in public holidays to be considered and I stress no increase is at this moment being contemplated, it would be necessary to undertake detailed and substantial consideration of issues arising, including wide-ranging consultations with social partners and other interested parties. Among the matters to be considered would be the impact of any such increase in public holidays on the competitiveness of firms, in particular, with regard to small and medium enterprises with smaller workforces, and in terms of output and the impact on employment.
The matter of an increase in public holidays did not emerge as an issue for consideration during the detailed and substantive phases of negotiation of the recent partnership agreement Towards 2016. However, there is nothing to prevent any party raising such matters for discussion in the context of any subsequent agreement.
In the circumstances, I do not share the view that proposals of this kind should be considered without regard to the wider interests of workers and the enterprises in which they are employed. I suggest that social partnership provides the appropriate forum in which such matters can best be considered.
I was in the House earlier today when we discussed the role of social partnership in determining what this elected assembly might decide. I am flabbergasted by the content of the Minister of State's response. He effectively stated that since the social partners did not raise the issue we should not discuss it. We are two public holidays below the European average, which is not a maximum. We have nine public holidays while the European average is 11. Various historical reasons explain why countries have public holidays. In the context of family life balance in which the Department and Government are involved it would be desirable that over the course of the next five years, two public holidays are added. This would mean that across the 12 months of the year we would have a long weekend to which families could look forward when grandparents and grandchildren could meet up. We could reconstitute a family-friendly society in which people who must travel long journeys between one place and another have time to spend with each other.
I know the Minister in question will not be in a position to deliver this after the next election but this is Labour Party policy. I am sure the alliance between ourselves and Fine Gael will be such that I can now seek an assurance that when the Minister and his party are on these Opposition benches, they will not oppose an issue they are not prepared to implement while they still have the power.
I will not engage in prophecy at this stage but it is important to remember the context of the league table of public holidays. I find league tables in general to be quite misleading, and this table does not take account of the holiday entitlements of people, which are in many respects considerably more flexible than set public holidays, as long as people have the choice of when to take them. The number of public holidays in Ireland, nine, is not the lowest among EU member states.
I take Deputy Quinn's point regarding families and there are family-friendly policies in place that have been advanced considerably in recent times. In general workers value the flexibility of their own entitlement to holidays in many respects more than public holidays. From that perspective it would certainly be in the interests of the country that when this issue is discussed at a serious level, the social partners will be involved in consultation.
As the last office holder to introduce a public holiday, the May bank holiday Monday announced in 1993 and introduced in 1994, I would indicate the difference between a public holiday and the flexibility of annual leave. A family can adjust the taking of annual leave to meet particular requirements and the difference between this and public holidays is succinct and important.
For example, the public holiday introduced by the late Michael O'Leary in October resulted in, among other things, the jazz festival in Cork and the Dublin City Marathon.
The festival is the work of an innovative committee in Cork.
I am quite serious. A space is created. I commend the people of Cork who brought forward the jazz festival but they chose to take a window of opportunity, a public holiday weekend. Dublin City Council did likewise when Noel Carroll initiated the Dublin City Marathon. On one occasion 15,000 people ran in the city marathon, creating a buzz and opportunities for employment and wealth creation.
Public holidays of a structured kind, to which I refer, can create business, employment and local tourism opportunities that do not currently exist. Flexibility for individuals means that if they have 20 working days leave, it can be tailored to family circumstances through negotiation with employers. The public holiday concept is one around which we can build festivals and celebrations of any kind across the city. I ask the Minister of State to reconsider the issue in the dying days of this Administration.
The Minister of State may briefly reply.
I am afraid Deputy Quinn is setting the bar somewhat high with his requirements for the next public holiday, whenever it is announced. There are benefits to having public holidays, although families would indicate that public holiday weekends tend to be the most expensive in many of these locations. For many ordinary working families, the flexibility which entitlements to ordinary leave affords gives them better value on a great many occasions.
3 Mr. Hogan asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of price surveys conducted by the National Consumer Agency, NCA; the number of prosecutions taken against rogue traders on foot of the work of the NCA to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15710/07]
The Consumer Protection Act 2007, which provides for the establishment of the National Consumer Agency on a statutory basis, was recently signed into law. Regulations are being finalised to appoint 1 May 2007 as the establishment day for the agency. Once formally established, the NCA will have specific statutory functions in areas such as enforcement and information. These will include promoting and conducting public awareness and information campaigns for the purpose of educating and advising consumers and for enforcing consumer protection law, including the prosecution of summary offences by traders.
I advise the Deputy that until the new agency is formally established, the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs continues to carry out important functions in enforcing consumer law. In this regard I am advised that the office has taken nine prosecutions so far this year against traders for breaches of various areas of consumer protection law, including product pricing, price display, misleading pricing, car clocking and food labelling. I understand the office has a further ten prosecutions pending.
In the area of price surveys, the ODCA conducts a monthly product pricing survey covering multiples, symbol groups and a variety of other retailers. I understand the office also conducted a specific survey earlier this year on the practices of certain traders who dual price in both euro and sterling.
I am satisfied the expanded remit prescribed for the NCA in the Consumer Protection Act 2007 will allow the agency to continue to build upon the important work of the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs but also to be a forceful champion of the consumer's case, including in those areas referred to in the Deputy's question.
The Minister established the National Consumer Agency on an interim basis. What has it been doing in the past two years on an interim basis if the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs is still doing the work outlined in the Minister's response?
It is widely known I established the agency on an interim basis, and this has been widely debated in the House. It was good to have it established on an interim basis prior to the passing of legislation and it has been effective prior to having a statutory footing. This has been evident mainly in the area of advocacy, research and a number of campaigns organised around a range of issues. The agency has made submissions on a number of policy issues both to me and other Departments.
The NCA has been very effective. The placing of the agency on a statutory footing will now give it the enforcement powers raised in the Deputy's question. The agency clearly could not proceed with prosecutions when it did not have a statutory basis, and this fact was known to the Deputy and everybody else. I am surprised the question was put in that format.
In the aftermath of the consumer group it was correct to set up the agency and it has worked very well so far. It will be a strong advocate for consumers and it represents significant infrastructure for consumer protection and advocacy that we have not had in this country.
I agree that it was time for it to be established. It took a long time for it to happen. The Government voted down a Bill three years ago in the Dáil relating to this. It could have happened much sooner. Will the Minister be more specific in telling me what the agency has done on an interim basis since it was established?
With the greatest respect, I have been very——
I am sure they were doing something on an interim basis.
The Deputy is an Opposition spokesperson on the matter, he should have observed what it did.
I did not observe much.
Much work was done——
Give me an example.
——in terms of surveys and submissions, including one regarding the groceries order. There were several campaigns on the empowerment of consumers, of which the Deputy would have been notified. There was a distribution to households as part of an effective "Know Your Rights" campaign, which indicated to consumers their rights and entitlements under existing law. The agency had an input into the formulation of new legislation, particularly the transposition of EU directives and the types of powers and roles the agency should have under the new consumer law.
There were other campaigns and I will send the specifics to the Deputy.
4 Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will report on progress made in the establishment of the Office of the Director of Employment Rights Compliance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15645/07]
A key Government commitment in the social partnership agreement Towards 2016 provided for the establishment of an office for the director of employment rights compliance, known as the national employment rights authority, with an increased labour inspectorate, by the end of 2007.
I am pleased to report that significant progress has been made on the establishment of the new authority. The national employment rights authority, NERA, was established on an interim basis following the appointment of its director, Ger Deering, in February this year. The management team of NERA is substantially in place as the director and senior management team, including two principal officers, two assistant principals, an accountant and a legal adviser, have been appointed.
The management team will be supported by additional clerical and administrative staff. The total staff complement of NERA is currently 83. Sanction has been secured from the Department of Finance for an additional 59 labour inspectors. The necessary arrangements and selection process for the recruitment of the remaining inspectors are well advanced, including the recruitment of ten labour inspectors with specialist language skills. To date, seven new inspectors have been appointed. The process is well on target to meet the commitment in Towards 2016 of having 90 inspectors in place by the end of 2007. To make progress with its public awareness and education programme, the National Employment Rights Authority has undertaken a number of tendering processes for the design and development of a website and for advertising and communications services.
Significant work has been done on the substantial employment law compliance Bill, which will be published before the end of the year. Not only will it provide for the establishment of the National Employment Rights Authority on a statutory basis but it will also provide for a new model of compliance, which will include an increased penalties regime throughout all aspects of employment rights legislation. The Bill will simplify the adjudication and redress mechanisms which are available in the employment rights area. It will strengthen existing arrangements relating to investigations by labour inspectors.
The authority has commenced a series of meetings with its stakeholders to initiate a structured dialogue on the new compliance model. Further legislation that was enacted recently provides for certain information to be exchanged through joint investigation units involving three parties — the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the National Employment Rights Authority, the Minister for Social and Family Affairs and the Office of the Revenue Commissioners. The enactment of this legislation facilitates the operation of joint investigations by the three parties, or a combination of the parties, if breaches of law are suspected. The exchange of information between the three bodies has already commenced. I do not doubt that it will lead to more effective use of resources by the three bodies, as well as improved compliance with labour law.
I thank the Minister for his comprehensive reply. Can he tell the House whether the position of director general of the body was publicly advertised? If it was not publicly advertised, what prompted the Minister and the Government to decide to propose Mr. Deering as the director general of the body?
It was done through a competition.
It was through a competition.
I will get the exact details of it for the Deputy.
Was the competition publicly advertised?
Yes. I will get the details of the type of competition, etc.
That is fine.
We did not nominate him. He was presented to us as a result of a competitive process.
Okay.
