Mr. Adrian Cummins:

We have not been involved in a JLC since 2011. That is when the constitutional challenge was taken by the Quick Food Service Alliance. We have not been involved in one since and we do not see a need to be in one. We have industrial harmony within our sector. There was rapid growth in our industry in the years after the JLC was disbanded, from 2012 or 2013 up as far as 2017. There was rapid growth of employee numbers within our industry. My premise is that we have a statutory agency in place to look after employee working conditions and we have numerous Acts to protect employee rights within the State. We need to have more inspectors on the ground, not just in hospitality but across other sectors as well. Yesterday the chairperson of the WRC gave a presentation on this. There were 4,500 inspections of businesses throughout Covid. We can increase that. Businesses are looking for extra staff and that is the way to make sure they do the right thing. Every business should be treated exactly the same. We had this issue during the time of the JLCs where one business would be treated totally differently from another. That was one of the most frustrating things about it.