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

This is employment rights legislation and is exceptionally important. It has to strike a balance and not impinge on the ability of people to hire employees. It is a long time since anyone in this room was 18 or 19. Many young people apply for a job and are asked to come in and start on Saturday. Five days for the employer to be able to give that person their basic standards and conditions is a major change from what is in legislation.

The majority of employers provide contracts before employees arrive on the first day. That is the norm.

What we are trying to do is catch those few rogues who do not bother their barney looking after people. However, we also need to ensure we do not stop young people from going for an interview and being told to start the following Saturday. We need to give an employer, be it the local SuperValu or Centra or grocery store, to which Deputy Willie Penrose has referred, a reasonable amount of time in which to give the young person the terms and conditions of their contract. Five days is entirely reasonable. The kick in the ass is that if the employer does not do it within five days, he or she will be charged with a criminal offence. I am asking everybody to be reasonable. I understand this is employment rights legislation. We want to ensure people will be looked after properly by the few rogue employers. However, we have to recognise that people are running businesses. We want to allow them flexibility to take somebody on and take those few days to make sure they adhere to their obligations under the law. If they do not, we will have absolutely no problem in coming down with the full rigour of the law and pressing criminal charges against them.