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Irish Times
01-08-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Ireland fined €1.54m by ECJ for delay in writing Work-Life Balance directive into Irish law
The European Union's highest court has fined Ireland €1.54 million for delays in fully transposing the EU's 2019 directive on Work-Life Balance for Parents and Carers. The directive was due to have been fully transposed by the middle of 2022 but the legislation required to complete the process was not enacted until last year. The fine imposed by the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) is the fourth imposed on Ireland since 2020 for failing to transpose a directive in the anticipated timeframe following similar issues with regard to recent directives on anti-money laundering measures, audio visual services and electronic communications. The total fines imposed during the period now comes to just over €13 million. READ MORE The Work-Life Balance directive was intended to extend a number of entitlements to carers and parents with regard to time off work to allow them meet caring or support obligations, mainly to family members. Laura Bambrick, head of social policy and employment at the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, said part of the problem in this instance was that the government sought to go beyond what was required of it in its legislation and this, combined with complications associated with the pandemic, helped to prolong the process. 'The directive had a number of elements to it,' she says. 'It introduced paternity leave, paid parents' leave, it gave all workers the right of five days unpaid care leave for serious medical reasons, if a close relative or friend fell ill. It also allowed parents and carers to request flexible working and it was those last two that were late being transposed. 'Ireland has tended to be bad at transposing,' she continued. 'Being late, blocking, diluting the transposition. In this case, though, the period for transposition largely coincided with Covid and Ireland was one of the dozen countries given warnings about late transposition. 'What was specific to Ireland was that our Work Life Balance Bill became a miscellaneous piece of legislation, a lot of other bits including improvements to breastfeeding breaks, the introduction of domestic violence leave and the right to request remote working for all workers were all added.' In a statement, the Department for Children, Disability and Equality said it takes its responsibilities seriously regarding transposition of EU directives but that 'there were particular circumstances which delayed transposition of this directive, leading ultimately to today's penalty' It said many of the provisions required by the directive had been introduced before this deadline. Among other factors, it pointed to the pandemic as having contributed to delays and said the decision to attempt to deal with the issue of remote working had added to the time required to pass the required legislation. 'Ireland has made progress on reducing delays in transposing EU directives and is currently ranked second best overall in the EU, alongside Finland, in terms of timely transposition of EU Single Market Directives,' it said.
Irish Times
16-06-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
The Irish Times view on the politics of housing: Government only has itself to blame
The political pressure to make progress on housing is building. A 'Raise the Roof' protest will take place outside the Dáil on Tuesday evening, organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and supported by a range of civic society groups. This will coincide with a joint motion in the Dáil from the Opposition parties – Sinn Féin, Labour, Social Democrats and the Green Party – calling for emergency action on housing. To some extent at least, the Government only has itself to blame for the predicament it finds itself in. It seems that ministers in the last administration believed their own ' PR' not only by accepting assurances from then housing minister Darragh O'Brien that completions last year would be close to 40,000, but also believing that enough was being done to deal with the crisis. The report of the Housing Commission last summer was ignored. The government went into the election arguing that it was on the right track. So where to next? The Government has moved on planning permission rules and also rent pressure zones (RPZs)– the latter announcement apparently not fully thought through, requiring a range of clarifications. The reality is that the RPZ rules have had an impact on supply, but there are a lot of other familiar factors at play too, including infrastructure shortcomings, the cost of building and the planning system. On the latter, the Government will regret that its predecessor only passed the planning act into law in its final days. Ministers can point to the surprisingly rapid growth of the economy in recent years and the influx of foreign workers as one reason for housing pressures. But it has been too slow to react. READ MORE The policy changes sought by the protesters and the Opposition are, not surprisingly, not easily implemented either. Calls to spend more State cash ignore the huge amounts already being directed into housing; additional resources are indeed needed, but the real issue is delivery. Demands for more protections for private renters is understandable – and this vulnerable group does need to be looked after. But marrying this with more supply is the issue. Calls to create a right to housing are well founded, but all sides know the risk that this becomes another empty promise. Perhaps the strongest case of the protesters is the lethargy of the Government in its early months on policy issues. It is only now starting to move on housing and has still to clearly indicate what route it will take. Opposition politicians – and the wider public too – might also reflect on the culture of objections to planning development which are all too common and cross the political divide. If Ireland really sees housing as a crisis, then the comfortable classes cannot continue to seek every avenue to delay developments which may discommode them. If housing really is to be treated as a crisis, then everyone has a role to play.
