Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I agree with several of the speakers, including the Minister of State, that this Bill is very much about balance. There has to be balance in this. I remember my late mother telling me that if I wanted to find out how popular I was, I should go into politics or open a business. I would sooner be in politics because it is very tough trying to run a business at the minute. We have to accept that every action has a consequence. The approach of the legislation, with its slow building of momentum and its addition of days over time, is the way to go. It has to be inclusive and involve employer groups throughout.

I will come back to the point I made earlier on the ability to pay and having recourse to the Labour Court.

No small business owner will ever do that because if one were to take that action, the first thing that would happen to him or her is that any limited credit that he or she would have, be it 30 days or 28 days, would be withdrawn from him or her straightaway because it would raise red flags with his or her suppliers. There is not sufficient recourse there for employers. Hopefully, on Report Stage, the Minister of State can come back with an alternative for us in order to compensate employers.