Solicitud directa (CEACR) - Adopción: 2024, Publicación: 113ª reunión CIT (2025)

Convenio sobre las agencias retribuidas de colocación (revisado), 1949 (núm. 96) - Irlanda (Ratificación : 1972)

Part III of the Convention. Articles 12–14. Regulation of fee-charging employment agencies. In its 2023 reports, the Government indicates that there has been no significant change in the application of the Convention and that Ireland remains in compliance with its provisions. The Government further indicates that, under Section 10 (1) of the Employment Agency Act, 1971, as amended by Section 19 of the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act, 2003, a person guilty of an offence under the Act is liable, on summary conviction, to a “Class C” fine not exceeding €2,500, and in the case of a continuing offence, to a “Class D” fine not exceeding €1,000 per day. The Government reports that ten cases involving employment agencies were inspected in 2021 and 18 in 2022, with one contravention detected in 2021 and nine in 2022. Additionally, the Government reports that, in the period 2018–23, 32 inspections involving employment agencies were carried-out which, resulting in 18 contraventions: six related to less favourable treatment, ten involved agencies operating without a valid licence, and two regarding failure to provide records. The Government specifies that no criminal prosecutions were necessary to ensure compliance. The Government also reports that, as of June 2023, 70 officers are authorized to conduct inspections to verify compliance with employment legislation. The Government anticipates that the increased staffing resource will lead to more inspections and ensure an even coverage of oversight throughout the jurisdiction. The Government adds that staffing resource requirements are subject to regular review with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. The Committee however notes that the ratio between the number of inspections and the number of detected contraventions over the period 2018-2023 appears to be substantially high. The Committee therefore requests the Government to provide information on the impact of the measures taken to remedy this situation and to indicate whether additional measures have been taken or envisaged, including establishing a more dissuasive regime of sanctions or carrying out awareness-raising campaigns.The Committee also requests the Government to continue providing information on the number of inspections conducted involving employment agencies, the number of officers authorized to conduct such inspections, the types of violations detected, and the penalties imposed.

Prospects of ratification of Convention No. 181. The Committee recalls that the ILO Governing Body (at its 337th Session in October–November 2019), on the recommendation of the Tripartite Working Group of the Standards Review Mechanism, classified Convention No. 96 as an outdated instrument. The Governing Body placed the abrogation or withdrawal of Convention No. 96 on the agenda of the 119th Session of the International Labour Conference, to be held in 2030. It further called upon the States parties to Convention No. 96 to consider ratifying the Private Employment Agencies Convention, 1997 (No. 181), which would entail the immediate denunciation of Convention No. 96. The Committee encourages the Government to give effect to the decision adopted by the ILO Governing Body at its 337th Session and to consider ratifying the Private Employment Agencies Convention, 1997 (No. 181), which is the ILO’s up-to-date Convention on private employment agencies. The Committee reminds the Government that it may avail itself of the technical assistance of the Office in this regard.