Mr. Neil McDonnell:

The honest answer is that I do not know. The issue is becoming live because collective bargaining is under consideration. We do not have a problem not being part of LEEF if partnership 2.0 does not intersect with small business. What we are talking about is largely the way this works in Europe. Business in Europe is largely organised; it is a quasi-voluntarist model, but those businesses that are not involved in sectoral collective bargaining are not interfered with by it. If we go down a partnership route similar to that which as existed here until 2009, however, we will need to get it right this time. The partnership model became so involved on the previous occasion. The concerns of genuine small businesses like Ms Dunne’s are not at the table if they do not have SME representatives there. We really need to have that.