Irish Based European Works Council Discussion

Irish Based European Works Council Discussion 

May 16, 2024 | In-Person Discussion | Brussels

*Note: The date and time of this event has changed from May 9 to May 16 beginning at 11:30 am CET to accommodate those arriving by Eurostar train from London and those arriving on the early morning Dublin flight. 

This in-person meeting will gather the views of HR Policy Global members with EWCs under Irish law on the European Commission’s proposals to change the EWC directive in response to the European Parliament’s “Radtke” initiative.

It is inevitable that the Directive will be changed during the coming year. So, we need to think ahead about how we can influence the Irish government during the process of transposing the Directive into national law to make sure we end up with something we can work with.

Our speakers include: 

• Pauline O’Hare, Senior Legal Director, Employment Law Services, IBEC, Ireland’s leading employers’ organisation
  
  
• Gerry McCormack European Officer from the Irish Congress of Trade Union (he will join the meeting at midday, for 1 hour, to discuss the current Irish legislation)
  
  
• Colum Holland from the Matheson law firm (Dublin), who are kindly supporting the meeting

Additionally, we will be joined at the meeting by a representative of DG Employment from the European Commission. She will be there in an observer capacity to listen to the discussion and will not be there to speak on behalf of the Commission. 

The Commission has concerns about the current Irish EWC legislation and has started proceedings against Ireland in this regard. The attendance of a representative from DG Employment offers a further opportunity to feed into the discussions on reshaping of the Directive.

The Irish Department of Enterprise and Employment, and the Irish Representation in Brussels to the EU, were unable to send a representative to the meeting but have asked us to share any conclusions, so they can brief their government colleagues.

We will circulate a briefing paper on key issues relating to changes to the Directive in advance of the meeting. If you have any issues you wish to have discussed at the meeting, please contact [email protected] to have them included in this briefing paper.