Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the officials for their contributions. One official spoke about how this can have a real impact on rural regions. I am from an area in south Tipperary where we are an hour from Cork, Waterford, Limerick and Kilkenny. There are thousands of people who travel - or, certainly before Covid, travelled - to work. People are saying that the draft legislation as it is at the moment is very much weighed in favour of the employer. However, we are not finished yet. In fairness, the Tánaiste is open to amendments. We have to remember this is legislation that is coming through to support the employee.

Are businesses and employees almost ahead of this? We are bringing in legislation and it is important to do that. However, the conversations between employees and employers have happened already. Due to the past two years, it is almost a prerequisite demand from many employees, that this is what they want from an employer and if they do not get it they just look somewhere else. Is that something that has already been seen?