Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)

I have dealt with most of this on Committee Stage. If for example we were to delete the words "establishing one or more information and consultation arrangements" we would remove the flexibility which might be very important in situations where different sections in an undertaking have different responsibilities or perhaps are on different campuses. Issues might arise in one branch that would differ from those in another branch, for example, downsizing might impact on one branch but not necessarily on others.

It is important to have that flexibility. I have dealt with the direct negotiations which is very important in the Irish experience and is already in place in several undertakings. For those reasons I strongly oppose this amendment.

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