Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the select committee for the invitation to attend. As members are aware, an allocation of €19.85 billion was provided for the Department this year. It represents 37% of gross current expenditure. Our expenditure to the end of September was €14.8 billion, which was very close to target for the year to that date.

Each week approximately 1.35 million people - pensioners, people with disabilities, people on maternity leave or sick leave, carers and jobseekers - receive a payment from the Department. In addition, more than 626,000 families receive child benefit each month for almost 1.2 million children. What is significant about the figures is not just their scale but what they represent, with which I know we all concur, namely, a social contract whereby the State, on behalf of citizens, provides support for those citizens who for whatever reason or whatever short or long period of their lives cannot provide for themselves.

In a statement in the Dáil on 15 June this year the Taoiseach announced that labour affairs and labour law responsibilities would transfer from the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation to the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. At a national level, the following employment policy and legislative functions have transferred to my Department: employment rights policy and legislation; the Low Pay Commission and legislation relating to the national minimum wage and related areas. At European Union and international level, the following employment policy functions are now the responsibility of the Department. We are taking a lead role in co-ordination at the Employment, Social Policy and Health and Consumer Affairs Council, affectionately known as EPSCO. There is the employment committee, also known as EMCO, while we are responsible for the EU Semester process. We are also responsible for the response and input into the EU pillar on social rights which we hope to sign in Gothenburg next week. We are responsible for engagement with Eurofound and the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, as well as the Council of Europe in the co-ordination of responses on the Social Charter.

The details of the employment legislation that was transferred to my Department following the Government's decision are set out in the Labour Affairs and Labour Law (Transfer of Department Administration and Ministerial Functions) Order 2017, SI 361/ 2017. The transfer of functions involved 11 separate pieces of primary legislation in the area of labour affairs and labour law. The Department also changed its name to the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection to reflect these new responsibilities.

In the context of an overall spend of almost €20 billion, the transfer of funding associated with these new functions amounts to just over €1.5 million. The transfer takes place on a cost-neutral basis. The Further Revised Estimate for 2017 for my Department has risen by €1.55 million, but there has been a corresponding decrease in the Estimates for the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation.

The amount of funding transferred appears quite small in terms of the overall Estimate, but the rationale for the transfer is very important. The transfer of the functions to the Department reflects the close links between the welfare and activation remit of the Department and the operation of the labour market. As members of the committee will be aware, the conditions for receipt of in-work income supports, unemployment benefits, illness and disability payments, as well as pensions and support payments, both reflect and influence how the labour market operates. Bringing responsibility for employment affairs and social protection under one Minister recognises this reality and will help to ensure, for example, that developments in respect of minimum wage pay rates, working hours and illness absences within the workplace will be co-ordinated with the relevant State supports from the Department. This is a new challenge for the Department and I look forward to leading on it in the months ahead. I am pleased to say 13 new colleagues from the former Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation joined us last month. I welcome them to a large Department which has more than 7,000 staff.

In the immediate term our priority is to publish the Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill which is being drafted. The committee is aware that the Bill is in response to a commitment in the programme for Government to tackle the problems caused by the increased casualisation of work and particularly to strengthen the regulations pertaining to precarious employment. The proposals contained in the Bill are the result of extensive consultations, including public consultations following the University of Limerick study of zero-hour and low-hour contracts, in addition to detailed dialogue with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and IBEC for several months. As I stated, I have met representatives of these organisations to hear first-hand their concerns about the ideas we all share.

The Bill aims to address a number of elements that have been identified by many parties in the Houses where current employment rights legislation can and must be strengthened to the benefit of employees, particularly low paid and more vulnerable employees, without imposing unnecessarily onerous burdens on employers and businesses. They include ensuring employees will be better informed about the nature of their employment contract and arrangements and particularly the core terms at a very early stage of employment. There is also the strengthening of provisions on minimum payments to low paid and vulnerable workers who may be called to work for a period but not provided with any work. The Bill will also prohibit zero-hour contracts in most circumstances, ensuring workers on low hour contracts will consistently work more hours each week than is provided for in the contract of employment. They will be entitled to be placed in a band of hours which better reflects the reality of their working hours over an extended period. The legislation will strengthen the anti-victimisation provisions for employers who try to invoke their rights under the new proposals. The drafting of the Bill is at a very advanced stage. As I stated, it is my intention to publish the Bill before the end of the year, subject to Cabinet approval.

As I mentioned, the further revision of the Estimate is very small in the context of a very large budget. However, expanding the remit of the Department to include employment rights, the Low Pay Commission and labour affairs makes absolute sense. I look forward to working with the committee, the remit of which will also be extended to cover the same topics in the coming months and years. We will work constructively on legislation and to improve employment rights in the labour force and the Irish market.