Taoiseach Bertie Ahern says the Government is totally committed to the introduction of the EU charter of fundamental rights and that it had not sought any opt-out from this arrangement.
At the biennial delegate conference of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) yesterday, Mr Ahern said the Government had "prudently and sensibly" indicated it would wish to study the implications of Britain's request to introduce a protocol relating to the scope of the charter in that country.
"While we will continue to examine the technical implications, we are satisfied that the text of the charter itself and the wording to be included in the treaty appear to adequately define its scope and application. We want the charter to apply just as we agreed it should in 2004.
"I assure you this morning that that will be our objective in the forthcoming inter-governmental conference."
Congress had indicated earlier this week that it would campaign for a No vote in a referendum on any new EU treaty that included a clause allowing Ireland to opt out of the provisions of the charter.
It said the charter represented a statement of basic values such as respect for human rights and dignity, democracy, equality and workers' rights.
After his address Mr Ahern said he was "totally committed" to the introduction of the charter.
However, he had to make sure that "the ramifications of the British opt-out and protocol would not have a knock-on effect not just to Ireland, but everywhere in Europe".
"I was advised late in the morning that you could not assume that by the British putting in this opt-out that it would not have a knock-on effect and all I want to do is make sure," he said.
Asked if the Government was now confident that there were no obstacles to the charter arising from the British protocol, Mr Ahern said: "We are. We just have to make sure that our legal impression in Ireland is the same impression as they would have in Brussels and in the European Court of Justice and that will take some more checking, but from our position, I think, we are happy."
Mr Ahern also announced a new initiative aimed at improving the understanding of the scale and impact of employment agencies and agency workers on the labour market.
"It will involve a new survey on employment conditions with particular emphasis on agency workers; adding new questions about agency employment to our quarterly national household survey and questioning employers about the number of agency workers employed by them in our national employment survey."
The Taoiseach said agency working had a vital role to play in facilitating flexibility in the labour market. The national agreement, Towards 2016, had produced a framework for the regulation of employment agencies, he said.
However, he signalled that the Government would go further on this issue if considered necessary. "If it is the case that increasing levels of activity by employment agencies are having a harmful impact on accepted terms and conditions or, again, if we find that non-national workers are being exploited in the way agencies operate, then employers and unions and the Government will need to look again at what is the right balance in regulating employment agencies and agency workers."
Mr Ahern told reporters later there were now 550 employment agencies which seemed "excessively high".
"There is great concern [ that] a lot of these workers are coming in at below the normal conditions and rates and we have some proposals worked through.
"[ Minister for Enterprise and Employment] Micheál Martin will engage intensively over the summer to see what we can do, whether it is legislation. We need to try understand the figures."
The Government would introduce a new scheme in the autumn "aimed at alleviating the fees in public institutions for part-time courses at third level for those at work who have not previously pursued a third-level qualification", he said.
Mr Ahern also said the Government was going to respond effectively to the challenges posed by current inflationary pressures. However, he warned against creating a wage/price inflationary spiral.
