Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This committee has always worked constructively and tried to build consensus, as we did in respect of the Brexit report. Concerns have been expressed across all sides about workers' rights. I ask the committee to look at point 10 on the ICTU statement, which is a simple summary of what congress is asking for. I think we can all agree on these points. We can all agree that workers should be entitled to a guaranteed minimum number of working hours. There is nothing unreasonable about that. The right to be paid compensation at the appropriate hourly rate of pay where no work is made available is perfectly reasonable. I do not think anyone from any party would object to the right to terms and conditions of employment. Finally, there is the right to claim an alteration to their contract but only on the basis of looking back, perhaps over as long a period as 18 months, as Ms King has said.

I hope all of us could sign up to those points. As Ms King has pointed out, we could make a difference to a huge segment of the population. The political point I would make is that the economic recovery is quite imbalanced. We could have a way of making a real difference to people at the low-pay end of the spectrum by adopting these proposals. I would hope they would not be politically contentious because they should not be.