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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 25 Mar 2003

Vol. 563 No. 4

Written Answers - EU Directives.

Dan Neville

Ceist:

158 Mr. Neville asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment her views on the proposed EU directive on agency workers (details supplied) in view of the concern of recruitment agencies here. [7697/03]

The Commission's revised proposal of 28 November 2002 – Document COM (2002) 701 Final – is under ongoing consideration in the Social Affairs Questions Group in Brussels and was the subject of an informal lunch – time discussion at the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs – ESPCHA – Council on 6 March 2003, which I attended. The current Greek Presidency of the EU is now aiming to secure a political agreement by means of a common position of Ministers at the June ESPHCA Council, having failed to identify any avenue for an agreed compromise at the March Council.

Following this, the proposal will be the subject of a second reading by the European Parliament – and possibly conciliation with the Council of Ministers – under the co-decision process laid down in the Maastricht Treaty. It is expected that the directive will be formally adopted by the end of this year.

In the meantime, the Government will continue to play a positive role in ensuring that a satisfactory outcome is achieved to reflect the concerns of the various interested parties, including recruitment agencies, in Ireland.

The Deputy may wish to note that this proposal was also the subject of discussion at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Enterprise and Small Business on 12 and 26 February 2003 under the new Oireachtas EU Scrutiny process.

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