Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

I thank the Minister of State for his salutary greeting. However, I am confused by his response. If I teed up a good news story, he missed the ball big time with a swipe that was way off the mark. Irish workers work harder, longer and more productively than any of their counterparts in the EU, as numerous figures and data show. They are entitled to the same level of time off as others in the European Union.

There would be no loss in productivity. If anything, the tourism sector would benefit from enlarged bank holiday weekends of the type we introduced for May Day and which the late Michael O'Leary introduced for the October Hallowe'en feast. The pattern of tourism consumption, activity and festival reinforces family and community life through structured and planned holidays which meet the European average and which are predictable.

I do not ask the Minister of State to introduce it this year or next but to phase it in so employers and organisations can factor in those costs. What I hear from Fianna Fáil is a refusal to give to Irish workers the same level of time off to which they are statutorily entitled as other workers in the European Union. Where is the benefit of that? Do Irish workers not work hard enough?

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