Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

The consultation process has not been completed yet. The Deputy will appreciate that it is not possible to complete a poverty impact assessment on the proposals because we do not yet have those proposals. When we get those proposals the social inclusion division of my Department will carry out such an assessment. I do no have a date for the Deputy and I must wait and see what proposals are forthcoming. I believe the Duffy and Walsh report contains a number of extremely sensible proposals, many of which are in the course of implementation in different employments because there has been considerable employer-union interaction in certain key areas in recent time. I want to wait until I get the proposals before giving a time-based answer as the Deputy has requested.

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