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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 16 Dec 2003

Vol. 577 No. 3

Written Answers. - Proposed Legislation.

Denis Naughten

Ceist:

130 Mr. Naughten asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment when she intends to implement the secondary legislation to enact the European working time directive; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30749/03]

The Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 transposed into Irish law, the original Working Time Directive 93/104/EC. This directive excluded a number of sectors such as mobile road transport workers, off-shore work and work on board sea-going sea fishing vessels and doctors in training.

Amending Council Directive 2000/34/EC of 22 June 2000 was adopted to include the above sectors, previously excluded under the original directive. The position is that the transposition in Ireland relating to the sectors and activities covered by Council Directive 2000/34/EC involve policy areas which are the responsibility of a number of Government Departments as follows: policy decisions relating to mobile road transport workers require consultation with the Department of Transport; off-shore work and work on board sea-going sea fishing vessels are the responsibility of the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, and doctors in training are the responsibility of the Department of Health and Children.

My Department has overall central responsibility for employment rights legislation in Ireland and has been working closely with the above three Departments given the fact that it had previously transposed the original Working Time Directive 93/104/EC into Irish law through the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997.

The position in relation to each of the sectors covered by amending Council Directive 200/34/EC is as follows:

Mobile workers: The Department of Transport is currently examining a number of policy issues, relating to decisions about the utilisation of available derogations under the directive, in the cases of (a) mobile transport workers – for "workers concerned with the carriage of passengers on regular urban transport services" and (b) rail and aviation workers. The Department of Transport has undertaken to advise my Department of the position in relation to any decisions taken in this regard as soon as possible.

Off-shore work and work on board sea-going sea fishing vessels: The provisions of the amending directive relating to off-shore work and work on board sea-going sea fishing vessels were due to have been transposed by 1 August 2003. The Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources is drafting a statutory instrument to transpose this directive with respect to workers on board sea-going fishing vessels. Drafting is at an advanced stage and it is anticipated that the statutory instrument will be promulgated by the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources by mid-December 2003 at the latest. Work on drafting the second ministerial statutory instrument in respect of off-shore work is also under consideration, and will involve consultation with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel to the Government. This statutory instrument is expected to be signed into Irish law shortly.
Doctors in training: The Department of Health and Children has pointed out that Article 2 of the directive states that the date for bringing into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions shall be 1 August 2004, with regard to doctors in training. For that reason, that Department was not obliged to implement the provisions of the directive by 1 August 2003, as is the case for other professions.
The Department of Health and Children has also indicated to my Department that negotiations between the relevant medical representative organisations and that Department are about to commence. A primary aim of these negotiations will be to achieve agreement on the implementation of the requirements of the directive regarding reduction of non-consultant hospital doctors, that is, doctors in training, working hours by the relevant deadline. It is the Department of Health and Children's intention to transpose the provisions of the directive as regards doctors in training at the earliest opportunity, but in any case in advance of the 1 August 2004 deadline.
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