Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I strongly support this amendment, which has already been debated on Committee Stage. I expect we will continue to debate the matter until it is resolved. It is not adversely affecting high flyers who are well able to look after themselves, such as people in RTE or elsewhere who are able to secure substantial salaries. It will affect people such as freelance journalists, however, and other categories including actors and artists in some cases. I wonder how accurate is the Minister's comment that there are some anomalies in it. For example, would it be possible to deal with it by listing the various categories of people who could be recognised under this legislation, while perhaps excluding others as being potential undertakings? I am not at all satisfied with the senior Minister's comments when this matter arose in dealing with a previous legislation, that the Long Title of the Bill did not permit it. It dealt with the Competition Act, so the matter should surely have rested there. Unfortunately, however, the Minister's position on that occasion reflected the fact the Government is stonewalling on this issue and simply does not want to deal with it. That appears to be the case both to me and to a number of other people. I would be happy to hear a commitment from the Minister that he will examine the essence of what this amendment is trying to achieve. If the amendment is not going to be accepted in the Bill before us, perhaps we can have an undertaking on a timeframe as to when legislation dealing with this contentious issue will come before the House.

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