Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)

I am taking this Adjournment matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, and thank the Deputy for raising it. He has asked that the Government consider the need to amend or introduce legislation to ensure employees who have been provided with accommodation by their employers as part of their terms and conditions are given adequate time to secure alternative accommodation on their retirement, dismissal or redundancy, with particular reference to the latter and the need to prevent homelessness. In proposing such a legislative approach he has referred to an individual case in which employees who have resided for up to 20 years in accommodation provided on site by their employer on foot of a caretaker agreement have been unable to find alternative housing accommodation in the time since being made redundant. I am not aware of the specific details of the case, but it is clearly a matter of concern and I can appreciate the difficulties that might be caused for persons who find themselves in such an unfortunate position.

In effect, the Deputy is suggesting there might be a need to amend or introduce legislation to provide for an appropriate adjustment period for such persons. At issue, for example, could be an extension of the current minimum notice period to allow for a period of further adjustment by employees post-employment. The Deputy will be aware that dedicated legislation providing for minimum notice entitlements is in place, namely, the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Acts 1973 to 2001. The terms of the legislation specifically provide for a range of minimum notice periods to apply, the length of which relates to the period of employment of the employee concerned. The basic entitlement is a minimum of one week's notice. Persons with more than 15 years employment experience are entitled to eight weeks minimum notice. The Acts do not prevent an employee from waiving his or her right to notice or accepting payment in lieu of notice. On the basis that the employees to whom the Deputy refers were in employment for some 20 years, they would be entitled to this minimum notice period. If their contract of employment provided for longer periods of notice than the statutory minimum period, the longer notice periods would apply under contract law. There is nothing to prevent an employer and an employee from agreeing to include accommodation terms in an employment contract. For statutory entitlements, employees can vindicate their rights through the normal dispute settlement bodies. For other non-statutory contractual terms in general, where disputes arise, they may need to be pursued under contract law through the courts.

If it is the contention of the Deputy that such minimum notice periods provided for in extant legislation should be increased to allow a sufficient adjustment period for persons to secure alternative accommodation, where there is a caretaker agreement, post-employment, I cannot support such an approach. In the first instance, it would not be feasible to apply such additional obligations on employers in these challenging economic times. To do so would not only have a detrimental impact on individual employers, it could also affect sectors of the economy in such a way as to be detrimental to maintaining and growing employment. It would have significant and wide-ranging implications across the economy generally and potentially for a range of employers and employments. In current circumstances where businesses are struggling to remain competitive and contain costs, we must maintain a strong degree of balance and cannot impose on employers additional costs associated with new obligations post-employment where persons are retired, dismissed or redundant and where the normal contracts of employment have been terminated. I note that the Deputy has indicated that the accommodation provided in this specific case was provided by the previous employer on foot of a caretaker agreement for persons who are now redundant and where there is no longer a contract of employment in place.

Matters concerned with landlord and tenant law are ones for my colleague, the Minister for Justice and Equality. I understand there is in train a reform of such law, with proposals being circulated on these matters.

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