Minister for Labour says EU has driven safer and better working conditions

“ The EU has been and remains to this day a key driver of health and safety policy and indeed employment and equality rights generally.", Minister for Labour Affairs, Dara Calleary T.D said today.

Speaking at an event marking 20 years since the passing of the first comprehensive piece of Irish occupational health and safety legislation(Safety Health and Welfare at Work Act 1989) The Minister said:

“In a single market, with increased levels of trans-national labour mobility, we need to ensure that our European workers collectively operate in workplaces where the same highest standards of health and safety obtain."

The Minister dismissed claims as misleading that the minimum wage rate could be changed by the European Union

“In fact the national minimum wage and the sectoral pay rates agreed through REAs (Registered Employment Agreements) and EROs (Employment Rights Orders) are key assets in our national legislation which ensure that there can be no race to the bottom. They ensure, for example, that the particular judgments made by the European Court of Justice in the Laval and Ruffert cases - both of which were in the construction sector - could not have been made if the cases had arisen here in Ireland. This is because we have collectively bargained rates of pay, through the construction REA, which are universally applicable across that sector under Irish law.”

The Minister noted the tremendous progress made in the field of occupational health and safety over the past 20 years and the contribution of the Health and Safety Authority. He acknowledged that much of that progress and the Authority’s effectiveness sprang from a real partnership between unions, employers and Government. The Minister reiterated the Government's commitment to maintaining employment standards, saying:

"Even if the formal social partnership process has stalled slightly, the Government remains committed to social dialogue and progress on key public policies of direct interest to employers and workers alike. We will not, for example, row back on our commitment to safe workplaces. We will not allow short-term competitive advantage to be sought by increasing the risks to employees…. this Government will continue to honour the key employment policy commitments entered into under social partnership agreements. Later this month, I will move the second stage of the Industrial Relations Amendment Bill, 2009 in Seanad Eireann. This will strengthen the legal underpinning of collective bargaining arrangements which are given effect through registered employment agreements and employment regulation orders".

The major reform of Irish health and safety law in 1989 and the setting up of the Authority in the same year were inspired by the work of the Commission of Inquiry on Safety, Health and Welfare at Work which was chaired Mr. Justice Donal Barrington. The Minister acknowledged the far-sightedness of that Commission and its contribution to laying the framework for reform. He also acknowledged the contribution of Mr. Jim Lyons, Chairman of the HSA, the Board and Martin O'Halloran, CEO.

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