Madam, - Mary Raftery's column on the EU directive on services in the internal market, although very negative in certain respects, was very welcome to this Department.
As Ms Raftery pointed out (Opinion, March 10th), this proposal is currently being considered within the EU institutions, including the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament, and Ireland is actively engaged in the discussions.
This Department has been, and is, engaged in widespread and detailed consultation with the social partners in order to make an effective input to the discussions. In March 2004 we wrote to approximately 50 stakeholder organisations informing them of the existence of the draft directive and seeking their comments on it. We repeated the invitation late last year when we informed the same organisations that the Department had dedicated a part of its website to the draft directive.
We are very anxious to broaden this consultation. Hence our gratitude to The Irish Times for publicising the matter. Our website (www.entemp.is) is one of the vehicles that we hope will be used for the exchange of information and ideas on the issues involved.
Ireland, together with all other member-states of the EU, is very supportive of the objective of the proposed directive, which is to create a genuine single market in services throughout the EU. It is important to point out that the proposal does not address individual sectors nor dismantle standards of protection for workers or consumers but creates a framework to enable service providers to become established in another member-state (i.e. have an office there) or to provide services to another member-state.
Services account, in the EU, for up to 70 per cent of GNP and employment and the creation of a genuine European single market would yield enormous benefits for the European (and Irish) services sectors. It would also be a big plus for consumers, in Ireland and throughout the European Union. It is clear that where competition and more suppliers are introduced into an economic sector, consumers benefit.
Ms Raftery states that one effect of the directive, if adopted, would be to undermine wage levels in the services sector in Ireland. While it is true that the directive would lead to greater competition among service providers throughout the EU, the Department wishes to point out that the directive would not affect wage levels in services covered by over 60 legally binding employment agreements.
Details of the sectors concerned are on the Department's website.
Ms Raftery uses as an example a Polish company "operating" in Ireland and states that, under the proposal, the pay and conditions of its employees need only be in line with the legal minimums in Poland. That would depend on whether the company was established in Ireland (in which case Ms Raftery is incorrect), is providing services to Ireland from Poland (in which case Ms Raftery is correct), or posts workers where on a temporary basis from Poland (in which case Ms Raftery is incorrect).
Ireland, like all other member- states, has serious concerns about many aspects of the proposal. Discussions are still at an early stage at EU level and much work needs to be done, not least to clear away the confusion surrounding many of its provisions. Fears have been created that simply have no basis in fact. In that regard, the Department is very conscious of the difference between the need to protect the rights of workers and consumers, on the one hand, and the need to avoid protectionism, on the other.
There is a real risk that public debate on the draft directive will mix one up with the other. - Yours, etc.,
MAURICE KENNEDY, Press Officer, Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Kildare Street, Dublin 2.