Ireland fined €1.54 million for directive delay
The EU's highest court has ordered Ireland to pay the European Commission a fine of €1.54 million for failing to fully transpose a directive on work-life balance into national law.
The commission had taken legal action last year, having begun infringement proceedings in 2022.
obliges member states to take measures to ensure that workers with children and carers have the right to request flexible working arrangements to carry out caring duties.
Code of practice
The commission, during the proceedings, acknowledged that Ireland had now fully transposed the directive, after a code of practice on the right to request remote working came into effect in March last year.
As a result, the EU body withdrew a request to impose additional penalty payments on Ireland.
'Intensive dialogue'
Ireland acknowledged that it has failed to fulfil its obligation to adopt all the necessary transposition measures by the deadline but said that it had had to engage in “continuous and intensive dialogue” with the social partners to reach an agreement on the right to request flexible working arrangements.
It also argued that a code of practice, while not a specific requirement for the transposition of article 9 of the directive, would “significantly enhance” the practical implementation of the rights conferred by that directive.