Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We would all agree with flexibility where the employee would choose to have that option, but this Bill is designed to eliminate exploitation. The point is one can have a flexible working arrangement and yet get the minimum of three hours. Nobody wants it so flexible that he or she will get less than three hours' pay.

It is correct to say that these were linked with the other groups but that is something that we are not being allowed put forward at this stage. If the Minister is serious about getting the balance right between the option of the employee with a desire for flexibility and the need to eliminate exploitation, then the recommendation of the University of Limerick was that an employer can call somebody in but he or she must get a minimum of three hours' pay. The Minister needs to incorporate that somewhere now to get over that. I am aware why our amendments were ruled out of order but the findings of the University of Limerick report must be introduced somehow. If we cannot do it, the Minister has to do it. It does not negate the separate argument the Minister makes about flexibility.