David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister for his reply. Does he agree that this creates serious inequity between workers and that job sharers are at risk of losing out regarding social welfare benefits simply because of their choice of work pattern?

I am aware that workers in the public sector have been made aware of this. Has the Minister done anything to inform people in the private sector of this anomaly? Has he examined the possibility of introducing a PRSI top-up for people who work on a week-on week-off basis from Monday to Friday? It must be remembered that the problem only occurs usually every eight years when 1 January falls on a Saturday or Sunday. It has been suggested that people should stagger their work week but that is not always possible — for example, it may impact on child care arrangements. Will the Minister agree that there is an anomaly and give serious consideration to introducing measures to ensure that anybody who is job sharing gets equal treatment? We need to encourage people into the workplace and offering job sharing arrangements is one way of doing that.

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