The State's corpus of labour law was under attack, Labour spokesman on enterprise, trade and employment Brendan Howlin claimed.
He said recent debates in the House relating to Irish Ferries indicated the most pointed and savage underscoring of the attack on the concept of social partnership.
"A maverick company such as Irish Ferries is seen by others as a 'Trojan horse' to undermine social partnership, and to borrow the phrase of the Taoiseach 'to engage in a race to the bottom'."
There was a view, he said, that this behaviour was confined to the maritime sector. It was happening offshore, so to speak, outside the scope of Irish domestic law. "This refers to a labour law regime that has been built up, particularly since our membership of the EEC in the 1970s. Its most important pillars were put in place by a dynamic minister for labour, Michael O'Leary, during the 1970s, who bedded down many of the fundamental rights that have been expanded in the following decades."
He said he rejected any notion that they could not deal with the maritime sector. Labour had produced a bill requiring those companies who wished to re-flag vessels to do so in jurisdictions with which they had real connections, and not simply pick a country just to avail of a labour law or funding regime. "There are mechanisms to deal with such situations, and I hope that the rhetoric we have heard from the Government, not least from the Taoiseach, will transpose itself into firm action," he added.
"If this maverick company is allowed to get away with it, we will not have a maritime sector with an Irish employee within a few months. There certainly will be knock-on consequences for the rest of the economy as well."
Mr Howlin was speaking during the debate on the Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005.
Fine Gael's Bernard Durkan said that given the large number of non-national employees in the State, it was important to take every possible action to ensure they were given rights and entitlements. This was particularly important because of our history.
"I am sure every member of the House has a relative who in the past had to pick up a suitcase and go abroad to eke out an existence as my parents did," he said.
"When we think about entitlements, rights and dialogue, we should put our own experiences to good use in protecting the rights and entitlements of others who are less fortunate than ourselves."
