James Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Like Senator Gavan, I apologise for not being here earlier. We were delayed due to votes in the Seanad but I have read the witnesses' submissions. I have asked every group that appeared before this committee who have concerns about this Bill the same question, which I will also ask of the witnesses. We have a problem in that some people are being abused. A figure of 48,000 employees was given to us in a previous presentation based on a University of Limerick study that found the 2.5% of the workforce have these types of contracts. That is a large number of people. If unscrupulous employers are using these contracts as a way to avoid giving people regular work, we need to address that. In a previous life I was involved in a trade union but I am also an employer. I employ doctors, nurses, administration staff on a part-time and full-time basis but I can give them predictable hours. There are seasonal issues within the hospitality sector and in certain smaller businesses and that is fully acceptable, but there is also a problem with some people being abused. We do not know the scale of that, which was acknowledged by everybody, and therefore more research on this is needed. I do not believe this Bill is the way to address it but it raises the issue which needs to addressed. I apologise for the long preamble in asking the witnesses what suggestions they have for how we can address this issue. We have had some people appear before the committee who tried to tell us that there is not an issue, but there is an issue. How can we do address it? We do not want to be use a sledgehammer to crack a nut, which many people believe this Bill is because it is inflexible and so on, but there is an issue of equity and fairness involved. As I said to a previous group, the 48,000 employees with these types of contracts is quite a large number of people and if it was my brother, sister, son, daughter or mother, I would be very upset and cross about the fact that there is inequity in some instances. How do we protect workers from that? That is my question to the witnesses but it is not put to them in a pejorative or aggressive fashion. We are seeking to address an important issue. All I have heard from those who have come before the committee is that we should accept this Bill or that there is not a problem and we should discard the Bill. Neither of those views will fix this problem for us. We need something in the middle. I accept we need more research. I would be grateful to hear if the witnesses have any ideas that might help us to address this issue or on how we can protect workers from those who would abuse the current situation.