Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Absolutely. It is, indeed, yes. It is an area where we are trying to balance with the Constitution and the legislative process and ensure that the courts will have their role after in determining the input of the legislation. Our view is that sectors are very different. It is very difficult to be very proscriptive in terms of that right. What we are doing here is codifying the right for an employee to ensure that should they require to work past their statutory contracted date, that the law would be changed to allow them to do that. Obviously the threshold of evidence is in proscribed primary legislation in terms of what they would have to do in respect of the process - the notification process, the determination by the WRC - and, second, the fines if they determine that the request by the employee is not reasonable.