Mr. Patrick Mulley:

In response to the comparison we made with the Garda Reserve, when a reserve garda is in regular employment, a service level agreement is drawn up between the Garda Síochána and the employer in question. That includes an information pack for the employer from An Garda Síochána. We do not have a similar provision. One is on one’s own unless one has a job in the Civil Service or the public service. We seek a similar provision for the Naval Service Reserve. It is not a case of amending legislation at this point or introducing new legislation. An amendment to equality legislation to specify that a reservist could not be discriminated against because of his or her membership of the reserve might be sufficient.

Something like that might satisfy the legislators, rather than bringing in a whole raft of new legislation.