Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms King and Mr. Douglas for their presentations. I welcome Ms King's comment that this important Bill is a "step in bringing to an end the exploitation of thousands of workers in workplaces". It is important to note that she stressed that Congress does "not believe that any new law which seeks to give greater certainty to workers about their working time will have a negative impact on small business" because other contributors have suggested differently. I was also struck by something else she said. Many groups have come to this committee to speak about this Bill or to give us private briefings on it.

The presentation we were given by IBEC last week clearly showed its deep lack of understanding of the Bill and its contents. I will give IBEC a bye because it might be the case that it was not trying to mislead us, but instead simply did not understand the Bill. Having said that, the briefing from IBEC on the Bill and its contents - or, more particularly, what is not contained in the Bill - was very biased. I think IBEC threw in many red herrings in an attempt to complicate something that is not especially complicated. It has tried to make it sound like the Bill will do much more than it will do, particularly with regard to its impact on businesses. I have asked a number of groups to propose other ways of solving this problem. Every member of the committee agrees that the problems associated with low-hours or zero-hour contracts, banded hours and if-and-when contracts need to be solved. As Mr. Douglas has outlined, such contracts are preventing people from being able to get mortgages and loans. It is hard to organise child care when one does not know what hours one is going to be working next week. As Mr. Douglas said, it should be emphasised that employers are messing around with people's social welfare by changing the number of days they work and the times at which they have to come into work. Such practices make some people unable to apply for social welfare. I commend Ms King and Mr. Douglas on their presentations.