Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the officials for their attendance. To be parochial for a second, I commend those involved in the Look for Local campaign. It was very successful in my own area of Fingal and I have received very positive feedback from local businesses. It was a great initiative. It hit the mood of the time. People wanted to shop local. I think we all felt that and it really chimed. As it was very successful, I commend everyone involved with that.

I have a couple of questions and if my time expires, I may get a chance to come back in. This is going to be a bit confusing because Leo is from EI and we have the LEOs as well. I have a question for Mr. Clancy on the skills shortage. Is there scope for upskilling workers, retaining those who are out of work and further education in order to meet the skills gap? That is one part. Are there broader issues, as I believe there are, around pay and conditions that need to be addressed on the business side? While there are workers who may be out of work for the moment and who are, we hope, getting upskilled and getting themselves ready for the labour market, is there something that should be done on the other side by business? A follow-on question to that for both witnesses is on issues around workers' rights. Obviously, their roles are more on the business side but I imagine there must be a focus, they can elaborate on this, not just on jobs and job creation but on the creation of decent and sustainable jobs. I ask that they talk briefly about this. I will contact both officials because I am very interested in continuing this in a more in-depth way. Will they elaborate on how workers' rights are stacked into their work on a daily basis? How is it done? Time and time again we see, through the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, and other inspections, issues around workers' rights being exposed.

Can something be done at the start of the process to ensure workers' rights are stacked into every transaction and every campaign?