Ms Maeve McElwee:

I can answer the Deputy's first question around whether the issue would be resolved by the WRC having the ability to conduct a substantive investigation. The challenge there is the whole issue of how the WRC would actually manage to investigate that. The important thing here is that an employer is seen to give appropriate and adequate consideration, and that in line with all best practice and with the legislation, they have considered all of the angles and give a reasoned response to an employee as to why that request is being refused or perhaps being offered in a different format. For the WRC to investigate, we are really looking into very substantial challenges for employers. In many ways, with issues that are so significant, it would be very difficult for the WRC to actually determine at the individual level of a practice at an operational level, whether that person is critically needed. We could spend huge amounts of time and WRC resources trying to identify all of those different reasons why it might be necessary for one person in a particular role to have either on-site or a different type of-----