Minister Bruton said: "The decision to ratify the ILO Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers is an important milestone and shows a strong commitment on the part of Ireland to the protection of the rights of domestic workers".

"Ireland already has a strong track record in the area of protecting people involved in domestic work, as shown by the fact that we can ratify this Convention without having to amend our existing suite of employment rights legislation.  NERA has undertaken a programme of inspections involving domestic workers, and continues to respond to any complaints received from domestic workers.  In addition, the Labour Relations Commission, in conjunction with the social partners, produced a Code of Practice for Protecting Persons Employed in Other People's Homes which recognises the unique circumstances that occur in the domestic work employment relationship".

The Minister said that he was delighted to welcome members of the Migrant Rights Centre of Ireland's Domestic Workers Action Group to the Department today to mark the occasion of Ireland's ratification of the Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers by the launch of a NERA booklet on the employment rights of domestic workers in Ireland.      

The Minister concluded by thanking officials from his Department, relevant offices and agencies as well as all the various other stakeholders - including ICTU, IBEC and the MRCI - involved in this process for their work in reaching this conclusion.

The instrument of ratification will be presented shortly to the Director-General of the ILO in Geneva, Mr Guy Ryder.

* A "domestic worker" is defined in ILO Convention No. 189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers as "any person engaged in domestic work within an employment relationship".  Domestic work may involve a range of tasks, including cooking, cleaning a house, washing and ironing laundry, general housework, looking after children, the elderly or persons with disabilities, and maintaining gardens. The Convention requires countries to take measures to ensure that domestic workers, like other workers generally, should enjoy fair terms of employment, and sets out provisions in this regard such as requiring that where the domestic workers reside in the household for which they work, they should enjoy decent living conditions that respect their privacy.

Ireland's existing suite of employment rights legislation is already fully compliant with the provisions of Convention 189.  Legally employed domestic workers already enjoy the full protections of Ireland's robust suite of employment rights legislation by virtue of the fact that that all Irish employment rights legislation, including provisions relating to redress for violations of employment rights, apply to domestic workers in the same way as they apply to other categories of employees in Ireland.