Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will respond briefly to Deputy Tóibín's point. He asked what we could introduce before the Dáil is dissolved. This is the first time any Government has expressed any keen interest in this area. It took time to institute a comprehensive study. We are considering the next steps and I am here today to hear the views of committee members in terms of what the they should be.

I see all of this as part of a package. It is still my intention to bring proposals to my Government colleagues as per their suggestion and the approved decision in November to bring proposals to Government before its term comes to an end in the next few weeks or whenever. I have been very clear that elements of the law and our regulatory environment need to change to support working people in situations like this.

It has been said many times - including by Deputy Tóibín - that flexible working arrangements must be made available to people to reflect their personal circumstances, where they are in their lives and what works for them. However, it must also be accepted that businesses need flexibility to operate and grow. Fundamentally, this is about where that relationship becomes exploitative or is at risk of becoming so. That is where we need to change. A great deal of this turns on the interpretation and legal status of the contract itself. These things are fundamental to our employment legislation. As already stated, I see this as a package. I will not identify one or two particular things that could be outside the package and introduced in a short period because we need to see this as a package. We are proposing a fairly serious intervention in our legislative and regulatory framework in the context of employment rights and the functioning of our economy. We must be careful to balance everyone's needs. Clearly, where there are egregious cases of exploitation - of which many of us are aware - we need to be conscious of the needs of employees.

We cannot simply say that we passed legislation in the form of the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act last year. We spent a considerable period debating that legislation on both Committee and Report Stages. It is transformational legislation in terms of collective bargaining. Many aspects of the concerns people have raised here could be addressed by trade unions and employers through the collective bargaining legislation on the Statute Book since last August. Regarding some high-profile disputes in recent months in particular, there is the capacity in our legislative framework at the moment to improve the situation that pertains to people caught up in those very difficult and emotive disputes. It is not all about the University of Limerick report or what we can do in terms of addressing low-hour contracts. Legislation and mechanisms are in place already that can be used very efficiently and effectively, in particular by trade unions. I know the latter are looking closely at the potential of the legislation to resolve many issues that have stacked up in recent years.