Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

-----of zero hour contracts. I do not want to pre-empt the outcome of the review of zero hour contracts. This is the first such review of this nature carried out by any Government in this State. We need to reflect on that because it illustrates the Government's commitment to making work pay and dealing with some of the more egregious issues we have all come across in recent years.

We do not have a full set of data. We do not have all the information we would like to have on the practice of zero and low hour contracts. We are now doing that. The State will need to keep a close eye on it. I have an open mind in terms of who might do that, but it is important to have a continuum where data sets are regularly updated so we can keep a close track on work patterns and the type of contracts in our economy. I do not want to see low pay or zero or low hour contracts becoming the norm, as has been the case in the UK and in Northern Ireland.