Documents

In this report, Well-being Matters: A Social Report for Ireland, the NESC calls for a broader understanding of social progress while dealing with the relevance of well-being in a recession and crisis. There is growing international interest in measures of well-being beyond GDP. This NESC report is the first major application of well-being to chart social progress in Ireland. The report tracks trends across six aspects of people's lives: their economic resources, their work and education, their relationships and care, their community and environment, their health and their social values.

In this report, Well-being Matters: A Social Report for Ireland, the NESC calls for a broader understanding of social progress while dealing with the relevance of well-being in a recession and crisis. There is growing international interest in measures of well-being beyond GDP. This NESC report is the first major application of well-being to chart social progress in Ireland. The report tracks trends across six aspects of people's lives: their economic resources, their work and education, their relationships and care, their community and environment, their health and their social values.

This report highlights the fact that social needs should guide any regulations that develop the European single market, and also that electricity, gas and water supplies, together with retail trade and hotel & catering/foodservice are activities that show signs that there are – or could be – serious problems, particularly in the areas of competition and innovation.The ESC notes that there has been a slowing down of institutional progress in the European Union, due to a lack of coordination among the 27 member states in their positions. In the opinion of the ESC, this lack of coordination makes the prospects of establishing a single ‘guide for action’ in the adoption of common policies more difficult.The report urges the European Union to act with greater decision-making capacity, greater cohesion, and its own voice, not just to take on problems under more favourable conditions but also to offer valid reference points to overcome international imbalances. It therefore considers it necessary to provide a unified and agreed international response to overcome the present economic downturn and to achieve a lasting recovery within the European Union.The ESC criticises the brake on the single market represented by the fragmentation of the internal market in social/fiscal issues and consumer and user protection, the resulting diversity of national regulatory systems and, above all, the complexity of EU legislation. Among the main obstacles limiting the internal market are the lack of a common framework in the social, fiscal, R&D+i, energy and financial services areas and in the promotion of entrepreneurship.It also criticizes the failure to transpose EU regulations and expresses its concern at the fact that progress has been made in the free circulation of goods and capital while personal mobility has advanced very slowly, although the report considers that this factor makes a positive contribution to the development of a European identity and to better integration.In this regard, the text approved by the plenary establishes that the promotion of personal mobility within the European Union involves combining and improving a series of measures that affect, among other things, employment, education and training, housing, and social integration policies. The ESC also believes that it is necessary to harmonise the labour legislation of the member states.Another priority is to promote and adopt greater efficiency and a new and reasonable supervision framework for financial entities. Better coordination and communication between the supervision authorities and central banks, greater transparency and information and better cross-border co-operation in the prevention, management and regulation of crisis situations (such as the present one) should go hand-in-hand with stronger financial integration.

On 24 November 2008, the Dutch Minister of Social Affairs and Employment asked the Social and Economic Council’s Working Conditions Committee to advise the Government on how best to deal with inhalant allergens in the workplace. In his request, the Minister referred to two options for exercising the employer’s duty of care with respect to inhalant allergens, in other words to prevent the detrimental effects of exposure. The first option involves developing guidelines for employers. The second involves identifying an ‘accepted risk level’ and making improvements based on that level in order to prevent or reduce exposure. The Minister asked the Committee to evaluate both options and also submitted a number of specific questions concerning the chosen option. The request for advice is explicitly limited to inhalant allergens, in other words substances that cause an allergic reaction in the lungs, such as asthma. Exposure via the skin is therefore not considered, as better protection is both available and feasible in such situations.

Report for the period 1 June 2007 to 31 May 2009, made by the Government of Belgium in accordance with article 22 of the Constitution of the International Labour Organisation, on the Tripartite Consultation (International Labour Standards) Convention, 1976 (No. 144) (ratification registered on 30 September 1982) - report 75