Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I will explore that further. I take the Minister's point, which I welcome, that he is willing to review it. As it stands, however, all this provides is the right to request and the right to the employer to say "No". Even the suggestion that 13 reasons might be too many misses the point. The 13 reasons are just examples that are given. Instead, there is an overarching position that the proposal requested is not suitable on business grounds. The heads of Bill explain, without prejudice to business grounds, that the business grounds may include them but are not limited to them. As it stands, an employer can reject the request simply on the ground that it does not suit the employer's business. The employer can give a number of examples, but can simply say that it is not suitable on business grounds.

There is another point. Is it not case that, as it is currently drafted, if the employer says "No" within the designated timeframe, the employee has no right to appeal? There is no right to appeal on substantive grounds as the legislation is currently drafted. Instead, it is only if the employer fails to meet, for example, the procedure around it, so the employer is delayed in responding to the employee. However, if the employer says it is not possible to do the job or work cannot be reorganised among existing staff, even if that is patently ridiculous, one cannot appeal the substantive rejection. Under the heads of the Bill, one can only appeal a procedural error by the employer.