Ireland is in breach of EU law because of the inadequacy of its redundancy legislation, according to the Labour Party spokesman on enterprise, trade and employment, Mr Tommy Broughan.
This leaves the Government open to compensation suits from redundant workers whose employers break the 1977 Protection of Employment Act, he said.
Breaches of the law can range from inadequate consultation with workers over the redundancies to failure to provide minimum legal notice and refusal to pay statutory redundancy entitlements.
All other EU member states provide for compensation, over and above statutory redundancy payments, to be made to employees of companies which breach redundancy legislation.
Mr Broughan says that the UK government has already been found guilty of breaching EU employment directives, because it set levels of consultation and compensation too low. However, there is no provision at all for compensation in Irish law.
He was speaking yesterday after publishing his Employee Rights Protection Bill. He has already published another Private Member's Bill this year which aims at restricting Sunday work.
He says that the existing 1977 Protection of Employment Act is in urgent need of modernisation. "The recent plant closure at Sea gate is an obvious example of how the law, as currently framed, is inadequate," he said.
"Existing law obliges companies to consult with and negotiate with workers about their prospective collective redundancies. This clearly did not happen at Seagate. The absence of strong sanctions on employers, and appropriate appeal mechanisms for employees, means that the law is effectively being ignored."
Mr Broughan's Bill proposes giving workers being made redundant the right to take their case to a Rights Commissioner. Employees and employer would have the right to appeal a commissioner's decision to the Employment Appeals Tribunal.
Compensation to employees whose rights are violated by employers could take the form of reinstatement, re-engagement by the company or compensation worth up to two years' pay, in Mr Broughan's Bill. At present there is no provision for compensation which, Mr Broughan says, puts Ireland in breach of EU law.
He calls for existing penalties on employers who breach the redundancy legislation to be increased from £500 on summary conviction to £1,500. A prison sanction of six months' imprisonment should also be introduced.
Sources in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment said yesterday that they felt employees had adequate remedy in law to seek compensation against employers who breached the 1977 Act. They could, for instance, seek an injunction from the courts to prevent the redundancies taking place.
However, the Department says it will examine Mr Broughan's Bill carefully and not prejudge its merits. Last year 13,008 people received redundancy payments under the 1977 Act.
The Government paid £1.7 million to employees in cases where employers failed to meet their financial commitments. This is estimated to represent 10 per cent of redundant employees.
In 1995 the Government paid £4.1 million to employees and so far this year it has paid out £1.5 million under this heading.