Nato not on agenda during talks abroad, says Ahern

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern said Nato was never on the agenda when he held talks internationally. The Republic's position was well known: it was not part of Nato, nor did it wish to be.

"Our positions on the use of, and co-operation with the UN, and involving ourselves in humanitarian and crisis-management issues and the Petersburg Tasks, are well known and our discussions are always held on that basis, rather than dealing with Nato or the Nato alliance, of which we are not part and to which we are opposed."

He was replying to questions on recent European engagements.

Sinn Féin Dáil leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, who raised the Nato issue, also challenged the Taoiseach on workers' rights. He asked if Mr Ahern was prepared to have the matter addressed at EU level.

Mr Ahern said he had fought very hard to ensure the charter of fundamental rights, which was the main benchmark for probably the next 20 or 30 years, was part of the constitution treaty and, by extension, was now part of the arrangements for the reform treaty. This gave the protections that were key to everybody's rights, workers included.

He said an enormous number of people had come to work in the Republic in the past few years. "A decade ago, the non-Irish, or the new Irish as I would rather say, made up 1.5 per cent of the workforce. The figure is now just a whisker short of 15 per cent, at 14.8 per cent on the latest CSO figures."

He added that it had been recognised, both outside and inside the Republic, that abuses were less common than elsewhere.

"Does this mean that there are no abuses? Of course, not. There are abuses, some of which happen in the likely areas where there would be abuse even if it were not of migrant workers. There will always be those who try to take short cuts."

He said the trade union movement had been vigilant in putting forward a coherent argument that the existing legislation in those areas needed to be significantly updated and that a new agency was required. This had been done, and the National Employment Rights Authority was now in place on a non-statutory basis.