Feargal Quinn (Independent)
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The Minister of State is very welcome. It is good to hear his views on this matter. I am somewhat concerned when he speaks about the need for change to support working people. It seems that one of the major challenges we face is in terms of not quite understanding the marketplace. I have a fear with regard to this lack of understanding. I spoke to a man recently who had just been obliged to make 19 people redundant. He was finding matters very difficult. Part of that was because his costs have just got out of line. Somehow or other, we must give the employer the understanding that he or she must be flexible. There must be a degree of flexibility. Nobody wants to go back to the old days of the Dublin docks where people turned up and were either required or not wanted. Somehow or other, we may put in such regulations that there are fewer jobs because a number of jobs do not exist at a certain rate and under certain conditions. The Minister of State said the regulations were introduced in 1997. They seem to have worked very well. That does not mean we cannot do more. I am giving a word of warning that we may take steps we think will support working people when, in fact, we may damage their jobs. It is much better that somebody has a job, even if it is not the full job he or she would like to have. At least he or she can move into that job. Having come from a business which is very competitive and knowing competitors in the trade have in place something close to zero-hour contracts, I ask how we can ensure that we make the jobs available and that jobs are created without stiffening the conditions to such an extent that employers decide not to employ anybody else on because it has been made impossible for them to operate on that basis. It is a matter of getting the balance right. I am quite sure the Minister of State understands and is aware of that.

Although it is good news that the report said zero hour contracts were not extensively used in Ireland, it is also a reminder that we must ensure we do not get into a bad habit that other countries have got into and which we have had in the past.