Ms Patricia Callan:

The figure I gave comes from simple maths based on a UL study. It encompasses everybody who is on this contract. We know that many people want flexible hours. It works on both sides. An employer can ring somebody up and if they are not available, the employer can move on and come back to them the following week. That is absolutely fine and it is how people want to go with it. The scale of the problem is much smaller. Specific companies have been named by the public representatives here today. It is about asking how we can stop that company from doing this, which comes back to enforcement machinery. We already have three bodies of legislation in this area, the Organisation of Working Time Act, the Industrial Relations Acts and the Terms of Employment (Information) Acts, all of which give people rights. A person can bring a case to the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, and seek a recommendation on that.