DE ROSSA CONDEMNS GOVT'S BLOCKING OF EU 'TEMPS' DIRECTIVE

national | miscellaneous | news report Wednesday June 04, 2003 14:39 by flanagan Ely Place, Dublin 2

Irish Government prevents adotption of E.U. measures to protect Temporary Agency Workers

DE ROSSA CONDEMNS GOVT'S BLOCKING OF EU 'TEMPS' DIRECTIVE

Labour MEP Proinsias De Rossa has attacked the Government's blocking of new EU legislation designed to protect the rights of up to 100,000 temporary agency workers ('temps') in Ireland.

Mr De Rossa pointed out that at a meeting in Brussels yesterday, junior Minister Frank Fahey combined with his ministerial colleagues from Britain, Germany and Denmark to form a blocking minority under the Council's qualified majority voting rules and prevented the adoption of a unified stance in favour of the Temporary Agency Workers Directive, which is supported by the 11 other Member States and by the European Parliament and the Commission.

Frank Fahey is quoted in today's media as saying that the current situation "suits industry" and that "flexibility suits many people". It should be pointed out that in May 2002 an EU study concluded that there were "no provisions" under Irish law guaranteeing equal treatment for temps vis-à-vis other workers and that Irish temps were afforded "relatively little legal protection.

"I deeply regret that Ireland and the other three Member States blocked this Directive yesterday. It is urgently needed and should be placed on the agenda of the forthcoming Thessaloniki summit of EU Government leaders on 20-21 June, where an agreement should be reached." said De Rossa