The Government has failed to meet an EU deadline for the introduction of a new law giving workers the right to be consulted on issues affecting them.
Tomorrow is the deadline for implementation of the EU directive on information and consultation, which was agreed by member states in 2002.
However, a draft Bill setting out how the directive is to be transposed into Irish law has not yet been presented to the Cabinet.
The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment had promised that the Bill would be published in summer 2004, with a view to enactment by this week's deadline.
A spokeswoman for the department said yesterday the Bill would be sent to the Government shortly. She could not say when it was likely to be brought before the Oireachtas.
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 leaves scope for flexibility, however, in the way it is applied by individual member states.
The Government must decide, for example, whether it should apply to companies or co-ops with at least 50 staff or to distinct entities such as factories or shops that have at least 20 staff.
Many Irish workers already faced a delay in benefiting from the directive, even if the Government had not missed the deadline for its implementation.
When the directive was passed, Ireland and Britain were the only two of the then 15 member-states which did not already have laws giving workers the right to information and consultation.
As a result, the two governments successfully argued that Irish and British employers would need additional time to understand and implement the new laws.
Enterprises below certain thresholds in terms of employee numbers were given until March 2007 and March 2008 to implement the directive.
The department previously indicated that stiff penalties, including prison terms and fines, were being considered for employers who failed to meet their obligations under the new law.
