The Protection of Employees (Temporary Agency Work) Act 2012 was finally passed into law in Ireland on May 16th 2012. It transposed the Temporary Agency Work Directive (2008/104/EC) which had started the long process into becoming a Directive as far back as June 2003.

The lengthy delay may be explained in part by the substantial differences of opinion that emerged between the Member States, the European Commission and the European Parliament. Particularly, these focused on whether agency workers should have to reach a threshold of service before being allowed to compare their treatment at work with that of permanent employees of the hirer (or end user) employer. Ultimately, perhaps to ensure that the measure would finally get through, the question