Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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Many of my questions have been answered already. I am drawing on my own experience, because I have worked zero hour contracts. I worked on the management side in hospitality for many years around the world and also in Ireland. I was the person who did rosters for people. I also had experience of working in new businesses, and growing a business from zero to whatever number of employees. I want to know if there has been any thought process around that part of the economic sector where these new businesses move from the bedroom to the boardroom or the bedroom to the office where a business actually grows.

There is also the matter of someone who comes on board at the initial stage. I know myself from experience that I had to put in a lot of hours at the start of the business, and my hours calmed down as the business progressed, so I was working 60 hours a week, and then it calmed down to 40, 30 or 20 hours a week. Has there been any consideration of that, in terms of the six month period, or have there been any studies around how long the average is for a new business to get to that threshold where things do calm down? It may be longer than six or eight months, so somebody has to put in the extra work. In my case, we were putting it in without being paid, because the kickback was to have the job down the line anyway. Also, what implications would this have for people who work one job 30 to 35 hours a week and casual work on top of that?

What are the implications for a person who might work one or two nights in a bar where they would be on call to provide cover, for a friend, a member of staff, or an employer? It is a flexible arrangement. If a person has this flexible pattern of working one or two nights a week for a period of six months, what implications will that have? I know from personal studies that people enjoy the casual nature of being called to work and the flexibility of that works for them. I would appreciate an answer on that.