20 Samh 2013, 14:29
The Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Union Affairs meets tomorrow to further consider the social dimension to European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU).
20 November 2013
Representatives from ICTU, the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed and Social Justice Ireland will address the Committee. Earlier this afternoon, the Committee received an update from Koos Richelle, Director General of DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, European Commission on the topic.
Chairman of the Committee Dominic Hannigan TD says: “This week’s meetings come on foot of growing debate at European level that social indicators should play a greater role in EMU. A recent European Commission Communication on the subject outlined how employment levels and social challenges might form part of the formal economic surveillance reports associated with EMU. We hosted a valuable session on the the Commission perspective on these important moves with Koos Richelle this afternoon, which touched how best to foster labour mobility across the Union and ensure that skills are not lost through periods of unemployment.
“The Commission has confirmed its support for a scoreboard of employment and social indicators, an idea initially discussed during the Irish Presidency earlier in the year. Such indicators include the unemployment and youth unemployment rates, the changes in disposable income levels of households, the at-risk-of-poverty rate and inequality. Tomorrow we will hear the valuable perspectives of ICTU, the INOU and Social Justice Ireland. The views expressed will form part of a political contribution by the Committee to the European Institutions on the value of social indicators . ”
The meeting takes place tomorrow Thursday 21 November at 2 pm in Committee Room 3, Leinster House 2000. Committee proceedings can be followed here.
Media enquiries to:
Paul Hand,
Communications Unit,
Houses of the Oireachtas,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2
P: +3531 618 4484
M: +353 87 694 9926
Committee Membership
Deputies: Eric Byrne, Seán Crowe, Timmy Dooley, Bernard J. Durkan, John Halligan, Dominic Hannigan (Chair), Seán Kyne, Dara Murphy (Vice-Chair) and Joe O’Reilly
Senators: Colm Burke, John Kelly, Terry Leyden, Catherine Noone and Kathryn Reilly