Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

Unlike the Deputy's crowd of not long ago, we will not find them outside buildings saying the IMF are not here, we did not do anything about that.

In respect of the responsibilities of the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, the programme for Government, the EU-IMF agreement and the recent jobs initiative contained commitments from the Government that we would proceed with urgency to substantially reform the system, particularly issues related to overtime and premium payments for Sunday working, the number of joint labour committees and the general functioning and supervision of the system. The Minister prepared a memo and there was a preliminary discussion at Government yesterday. There was no conclusion to the discussion because it was preliminary.

Instead of trying to score points, Deputy Martin should understand that we are concerned about creating jobs and employment for the maximum number of people in the country. For the Deputy's information, the structures that need to be reformed are agreed in principle by the Labour Party and Fine Gael. The people we are talking about are those who are locked out of employment because of antiquated structures and the system that applies. For the Deputy's information, the Duffy Walsh report stated there should be radical restructuring of this particular system. It requires a radical overhaul to make it fairer and more responsive to changing economic circumstances and labour market conditions.

If the Deputy is interested, the most recent CSO statistics for the first quarter of 2011 confirm a continuing drop in employment in the sectors most affected by the JLC system, which is why that system must be reformed. The retail category saw 5,700 fewer people in employment between the end of last year and the first quarter of this year. The same period saw 9,000 fewer people employed in accommodation and food services.

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