Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I support the amendment. A review of the regulatory regime would be extremely beneficial. I take the point made by the Minister of State about the efficiencies and the savings from improved conditions in the workplace, which I have no doubt will save industry a significant amount of money through not losing so much workers' time. I would greatly value a regulatory impact assessment to establish the cost particularly to small industry, as highlighted in the amendment. Big industry has its own way of assessing these positions and of gathering information. However, the smaller companies would have difficulty carrying out their own regulatory impact assessment. I hope the Minister of State will accept the amendment. While I accept his statement in good faith that he will carry out a competitiveness assessment, unfortunately one never knows how long a Minister will remain in any position.

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