New rights making it obligatory for workers to be consulted about issues affecting them are likely to pass unnoticed by a large portion of the workforce.

In theory at least, the EU directive on information and consultation will force businesses to engage with employees on issues such as company performance, strategic challenges and profitability.

The Government missed the March deadline for its transposition into Irish law, but promises that a Bill will be published with a view to enactment in the autumn.

The directive leaves huge scope for flexibility, however, in the way it is applied by individual member states. A study by UCD professors John Geary and Bill Roche, to be published in September, predicts that the Government will pursue a "minimalist approach" to its application in Ireland. As a result, they do not expect the legislation "to be transformative in any real sense".

This view contrasts with that of observers who have predicted that the directive will revolutionise industrial relations in Ireland.

The directive gives workers the right to information and consultation about the business in which they work, its prospects and the circumstances affecting their employment.

It is expected that the directive will initially apply to companies and organisations in Ireland with more than 150 employees.

By 2008, however, tens of thousands of businesses with more than 50 employees will be required to implement it.

In a 27-page paper on its implications, Prof Geary and Prof Roche say that "by common consent" the directive is likely to represent "the single greatest innovation in Irish employment relations in recent times".

"It will introduce for the first time a comprehensive legal code whereby management will be compelled to inform and consult employees before making decisions on key business issues."

In practice, however, the two industrial relations specialists foresee limitations on the directive's effectiveness.

The Irish Business and Employers' Confederation (Ibec), for example, is pressing for the legislation to include a provision placing the onus on employees to "trigger" negotiations on information and consultation structures.

Furthermore, if fewer than 35 per cent of employees support a call for such negotiations, a period of three years should have to elapse before talks can be resumed, the employers' body suggests.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) wants the directive to apply automatically in all workplaces of the relevant size.

The Government's call on this issue will be "critically important", the UCD academics say.

If it places an obligation on employees to trigger implementation of the directive, its impact across various workplaces will be significantly reduced, they suggest.

"In workplaces where there is no tradition of representation or trade union organisation - the vast bulk of Irish workplaces - it may be very difficult for individual employees to 'raise their hand' and orchestrate sufficient employee support to request that management opens negotiations on information and consultation procedures."

The specialist publication Industrial Relations News has reported last week that the new legislation is expected to place an onus on employees to trigger its implementation in individual workplaces.

In their paper, Prof Geary and Prof Roche say the point is that, while the directive in theory is of significant benefit to employees, information and consultation arrangements will not be produced spontaneously.

"Practical difficulties on the ground are likely to pose significant challenges for employees wishing to avail of their new rights."

The paper concludes that robust forms of employee information and consultation are more likely to emerge in strongly unionised companies, where "the preconditions for this outcome" exist in any event.

"In the absence of such preconditions, it is difficult to see how the directive alone might instigate the adoption and diffusion of strong forms of employee voice in significant numbers in Irish workplaces".