Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations. I understand that they see hardship cases in their offices because the people who do not have problems do not approach them. In my experience the majority of employers are good and work flexibly. I have worked in the hospitality industry for years and any of my peers who worked in that industry had nothing but good things to say about flexibility. When I was a student I was given time off for exams, up to a month sometimes, and then clocked back in.

If somebody does a day's work they deserve to get the right treatment. Much of the witnesses' evidence has been anecdotal, which does not take from it, but do they have any statistics or surveys of students on which parts of the hospitality industry might be repeat offenders? Are they hotels, bars or restaurants? Are they urban or rural? The employers told us that in a rural location people would think twice about pulling a fast one on their staff because the publicity would not do them any good when aunts, uncles, sisters and brothers may be using that establishment.

Are there specific statistics available that might tell us if there is uniformity? It would be difficult for students to push this through the WRC with litigation, but has the students' union pursued anything on their behalf? Does it have case studies it can present to us?