Mr. Gerry Light:

Without getting into the figures, there is much under-employment. Over recent weeks, Government spokespersons have pointed to the fact that a considerable number of jobs recently created have been full-time posts. The problem with under-employment is that people are already trapped in existing jobs, so there is a real danger that we will miss them and take our eye off that ball. We should ensure that, wherever possible, we should try to improve the lot of people who are under-employed. Unfortunately, I did not get to read out a significant part of our submission which seeks the introduction of a code of practice that allows meaningful access to full-time employment for people who are currently under-employed or who are part-time workers. That is already in an existing code of practice from 2001, which was enshrined in an EU directive as far back as 1997 and transposed into Irish law in 2001. One of the clauses has been largely ignored and so has the opposite effect of what was intended. Therefore, the code of practice has been used to drive people from full-time work back to part-time work. Now is the time to strip out that commitment and give it status in its own right, as well as developing meaningful codes of practice. That would help in a major way in the battle against under-employment and helping those trapped in it.