Outdated 48-hour working week law
Byrne called for reform of the statutory 48-hour working week limit. Ahern agreed the laws were outdated but said he was seeking agreement from the social partners before changing them; Rabbitte objected that waiting for consensus could take too long.
Is the Minister aware that out of 16 European countries Ireland is among five who have the 48-hour week enshrined in law? Will the Minister accept that it is time, as the negotiated working week tends to be in the region of 40 hours per week, to change the law? Will he accept that the 48-hour working week is out of date and that there is a need to update the law because of that?
Comment on this
Our laws are totally out of date in that regard and I am urging the social partners to agree on amendments. However, we must deal with more than regulations. In the old days we issued regulations for all kinds of things and it does not suit both sides to remove them all. As soon as I get a positive response I will set about removing about seven-eighths of what is in those old laws.
