Tom Sheahan (Kerry South, Fine Gael)

The purpose of this Bill is to establish NERA on a statutory footing and the Minister has consistently stated that it does not need a statutory basis to carry out its full functions. Studying this Bill, I would equate the National Employment Regulatory Authority with another body that was recently established, the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority. I have a pet name for the employees of this body, ninjas, and this is another body that will employ more ninjas.

They do not have to announce any visit. I do not eat out as often as Deputy Fleming but, as he pointed out, when he was in a restaurant, they came in and demanded paperwork, leading customers to think there was something wrong with the food. These people have enough powers. When the authority was initially established, there were 13 employees but that rose to 90. Those are probably the only jobs this Government has created since it came into office. In doing so, it is making life miserable for employers.

There have been calls here for the Government to do something about the property market, but the Taoiseach has told us consistently that the property market will find its own floor. At present, there are more than 300,000 people unemployed, a figure that is expected to rise to 500,000 by the end of the year. Employment will find its own floor. I have seen the businesses in my constituency that are closed on Sundays or have closed completely because of regulation and red tape that makes employers feel like criminals. They are made criminals by NERA.

I have always believed that one should be paid what one is worth and I believe the minimum wage should be looked at. I cannot understand how someone can buy a cup of coffee for 70 cent in Portugal or Spain but it is €2.50 here. Why? The answer is regulation. I spoke to a shop owner recently who told me that on a bank holiday, any staff working must get double time and the permanent staff who will not work that day get a paid day off. Effectively, a nine hour day costs him 27 hours pay.

I am very pro-business and we need to look at circumstances now. It was a different story two years ago and we must get back to basics. We must have room not only to create jobs, but to hold and consolidate those jobs that exist at the moment. We must be more realistic. I spoke to a public servant who said to me, in response to a question about the pension levy, that he had looked out at his neighbour who had spent €320,000 on a house a year ago and he thought to himself that at least he had a job to go to.

We must stop putting so much regulation in front of employers; they are sick of it. The finest restaurant in Killarney now closes on Sunday. It would have served 300 plates on a Sunday but it is now closed. Deputy Fleming made a good point about the restaurant owner with a disabled member of staff, who was doing the right thing by giving the individual some self-worth with the permission of the disabled person's parents. I employed 22 people before I entered the Dáil and regularly the parent of a disabled person would ask me to give that person a few hours. I told them I would but I would not be able to pay him or her the full whack. Some of them did not even want payment; they just wanted to give their children an outlet, somewhere to be rather than stuck at home in front of the television all day, every day. Some were better than others but it was the right thing to do and I did it regularly.

There is no due process with NERA. They come in the door and they will nail the business owner. That is why I call them ninjas; they come in with the intention of nailing him or her. It is like Revenue coming in to do an audit, telling a person things about himself or herself they had forgotten years ago. The owner of the restaurant Deputy Fleming was in had to provide all this paperwork on the spot. It has been stated that NERA does not need statutory footing but it could become too powerful and, in the current climate, we must be pro-active and pro-business.

During the month of January alone, 1,000 people a day lost their jobs, many in high-tech industries and others in service industries. Those people would be glad to go to work at a decent workplace for a decent wage because they are worried about their houses, their children's education, their bills and that they are now dependent on social welfare. Those who were self-employed and are now out of work, having paid PAYE and PRSI for ten or 20 staff for ten years, will get nothing for 12 months. We must be pro-business and pro-job and this is the wrong way to go about it.

I have a 14 year old daughter and she said last night that she wanted to work for the summer. I asked her what she wanted to do and she said she would work in her uncle's hotel four or five hours a day for four days a week because she wants to start saving for college. Under this regulation, even if I give her permission and my brother employs her, it is not enough. Under this regulation, he could be fined up to €250,000 for failure to keep adequate records, €5,000 for offences or receive a prison sentence of up to five years.

This Bill gives NERA extraordinary new powers similar to those of the gardaí, the customs authorities and the Competition Authority. The authority will be able to enter and inspect a work place, seal it off and remove documents from it. It does not need any basis for doing so and does not need to be acting on a complaint. This legislation is anti-business and anti-employment and should be reconsidered.

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