Ireland needs to be at the heart of Europe
Issued : Sunday 29 March, 2009
Statement by Joe Costello TD
Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade with responsibility for Trade and Development
The Labour Party has always supported the Lisbon Treaty. In fact we voted overwhelmingly to campaign for its ratification at our Conference in November 2007 even before it was signed by the Heads of the Member States in December 2007.
At the core of our support is the Charter of Fundamental Rights which makes provision for the "rights proofing" of all future legislation emanating from the EU.
The defeat of the Referendum in June 2008 was a significant blow to the legal enhancement of workers rights across the EU Member States.
Moreover, it is only now in the midst of economic crisis that many people are beginning to realise how beneficial it is for Ireland to be at the heart of Europe rather than at the periphery or, indeed, on the outside.
The EU internal market, the European Central Bank, the European Investment Bank, the European Development and Reinvestment Bank, the stimulus package, the Growth and Stability Pact all provide a framework and support to assist the EU family of nations to tackle their domestic economic crises.
In October 2009 €30 billion was made available to Member States to provide a cash flow to small and medium businesses which are the life blood of every economy. The fact that the Irish Banks are only now beginning to draw it down is a sad reflection on our banking system and on our Minister for Finance.
Even as recently as the Summit last week the EU Member States agreed to provide on a voluntary basis a €75 billion package as a fast temporary support in the event of any Member State being unable to meet its balance of payments requirements. In other words there will be no 'Icelands' in the EU.
A second Referendum on the Lisbon Treaty is inevitable and will almost certainly be held in October of 2009 bolstered by the guarantees obtained by the Government last December from the other Member States.
We are deeply disappointed that the Government has failed to consult or engage with the Opposition Parties in preparing the text which will be voted on in the autumn by the people of Ireland. They have reneged on the commitment they made in December 2008 to do so.
Loss of the first Referendum was due to rank carelessness. Loss of a second Referendum would be catastrophic.
We are particularly anxious to ensure that the "High Importance" attached by the Member States to workers rights and related issues are demonstrated in a practical fashion prior to the second vote.
To that end the Employment Law Compliance Bill which provides for statutory inspection to counter exploitation in the workplace is already proceeding through the Dáil.
We are pushing to have the EU Directive on Temporary Agency Workers which this Government shamefully opposed for seven years transposed into domestic legislation before the summer recess. We are demanding that the Irish Government commit itself to revisit the Posting of Workers Directive so that it can be properly transposed into Irish law. Much of the difficulty that arose in the Lavalle/Viking/Rouffert and Luxembourg cases was due to inadequate transposition into the domestic law of the Member States. At present the entire Directive is buried in a single paragraph under the heading "Miscellaneous" in the Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act 2001.
It is not good enough. The Labour Party is preparing a Private Members Bill to seek to address the issue properly before the October deadline.
Before the second Referendum takes place it is imperative that we quell the fears of the 40% of the electorate who said that the reason they voted 'no' in June 2008 was because of their "very significant" concern about the exploitation of workers during the Celtic Tiger Era.
The recent report of the National Employment Rights Authority (NERA) showed enormous levels of exploitation in the workplace. It proved that the voters' fears were well founded.
Finally, I'm sure you will be interested to know that Mr. Declan Ganley of Libertas has not pursued the legal action with which he threatened me in November last year. For very good reason. He doesn't have a legal leg to stand on.
Last week the Standards in Public Office Commission produced its report on Third Party participation in the Lisbon Referendum of June 2008. Mr. Ganley figures largely for the wrong reasons. He totally failed to fulfil any of the requirements of the Commission in relation to his donations, loans and expenditure on the Libertas campaign. On no less that four occasions SIPO has had to conclude in relation to its work: "at the time of writing this report and despite a number of written and telephone reminders to Libertas, it has failed to provide the required information to the Standard's Commission.
Mr. Ganley is in no position to threaten legal action on anyone when he himself is in breach of the law.
ENDS. For more information, contact Joe Costello at 087 245 0777
www.labour.ie/press
