Mr. Paul Mac Flynn:

When ICTU was at the committee, I am sure it would have said that we take a lot of comfort in the fact that employment law and rights are devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Scottish Trades Union Congress is currently lobbying to get the same for the Scottish Government in Edinburgh. When we look at where the Republic of Ireland may be going on workers' rights with the EU directive, things may not get worse in Northern Ireland but it will start to get left behind. We see the EU directive on greater collective bargaining not just as how trade unions see it, in terms of greater democracy in the workplace, but as we spoke about earlier, raising job quality, retention, greater investment in skills within the workforce and being able to deal with AI or whatever is coming down the tracks. Depending on whether there is a change of Government in the UK, Northern Ireland may be able to step up the ladder slightly but will always be falling behind the South in that regard. That would be a concern because workers' rights at EU level are going in a much more positive direction. We see clear economic benefits to that, not just for workers but for job quality and the impact that would have on the economy as a whole.