Ms Aoife McFadden:

The recent increase in employment legislation means that employers are now under a constant administrative burden. To give an example, in the last two months alone, employers have seen the commencement of statutory sick leave, amendments to the Protected Disclosure Acts, obligations on organisations to report on the gender pay gap and regulations around transparent particular working conditions. They are also waiting for the work-life balance Bill, which is currently before the Seanad and will increase employment rights in a number of areas. In order to be implemented correctly, employers require extensive resources to review and create new policies, for example, conducting risk assessments, and amend contracts and internal procedures, in addition to the need for training and an increase in the required resources. The proposed auto-enrolment legislation, when it commences, will have less of an impact on sectors, employers and employees who are well covered in terms of pension provision, but it will represent a significant challenge for sectors and employees who, until now, have had a low participation rate. While some of these workplaces are part of larger firms, small, independent businesses are likely to have less administrative capacity.

This is something we would like to bring to the attention of the committee. It is also included in our submission.