Ms Maeve McElwee:

The question that arises for me in that situation is if the law is changed so that those collective agreements become part of the legally binding contract, does one also change the law that says all collective agreements have to be the same? Otherwise, how does one mitigate against employers having very different ex-gratiapayments and the State paying different amount of ex-gratia payments to different employees depending on the sector or industry they are in? Therefore, by requiring the ex gratiato be included as part of a statutory redundancy payment paid through the Social Insurance Fund, people would still be entitled to different amounts depending on what their employer had negotiated.