Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill, which is very important. We have been talking about it for a long time. For years we knew this had to be reformed but it never happened. I had to laugh last night and today when I heard Deputies on the Opposition side giving out about the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Bruton, delaying for the past six months. We are more than ten years late in reforming this legislation but at last we are finally there.

This matter became much more urgent after the High Court case last July. The Duffy Walsh report was published around the same time and this made it a pressing issue. I thank the Minister for the urgency with which he dealt with the matter. Along with a number of colleagues on the Joint Committee on Jobs, Social Protection and Education, I am dealing with this Bill and it has been frustrating because we wanted to have the matter addressed. I acknowledge the contribution of Deputies O'Dea and Tóibín, who introduced Bills on this area. That legislation dealt with some of these same issues but not all of the issues addressed by the Minister's Bill. I acknowledge the efforts of those Deputies and the efforts of the committee to address this matter. Looking through the Bill and realising how long it can take, I accept that the Minister and the Ministers of State, Deputies Perry and Sherlock, did this as quickly as they could. The Bill covers most of the matters under review. There will be plenty of debate in the coming weeks and on Committee Stage during February and March. A number of groups want to present and make submissions on this legislation and I have no doubt that it will get a good hearing. We will get it right this time. A long time ago, when starting out in politics, I was told that sometimes one wants to rush things but it is better to get things right than rushed. It is only January but I think we have the right balance and common sense into an area that needs major reform. The main reason it needs reform is because we are missing out on job opportunities. People are missing out on having their first job, such as a part-time job in a local shop, which is often people's first job. This is the opportunity to find out how it works in the workforce.

This is an important Bill that will change how these agreements are reached. This is a major problem area for employers, particularly the red tape associated with this. In some cases, there were over 300 different rates of pay across different sectors, which is absolute madness. One of the reforms included in the legislation is that rates of pay will be limited to three. The red tape will be cut out for employers and this will help them to create jobs.

Most of the Opposition speakers have made clear that we must protect workers in vulnerable sectors or categories of workers on low wages. There is no doubt about that but one must also have the balance so that people are willing to create jobs in the first place. This legislation has balance. If anyone doubts the commitment of the Government to the low paid, one of its first acts when it came into government in March was to reverse the minimum wage cut. That cut was absolutely wrong. At the time, we were told by the then Government, which was mainly Fianna Fáil, along with the Green Party and a few other people hanging around, that this would create jobs. I had to laugh when I read Deputy Willie O'Dea's speech last night when he made it clear that there is no link between cutting wages at the lower end and creating jobs. Last year, his message was totally different. I am glad that the Opposition has come around to our view of this, that is wrong to cut the wages of those on low wages. I agree with IBEC on many things but it got this wrong. It is very hard for people to survive on low wages. If people are on the minimum wage, there is a cost to going to work. Cutting the minimum wage means that it is not worthwhile for people to go to work. Industry wanted the minimum wage reduced because it is used as a benchmark for other wage negotiations. These should be addressed separately and people should not pick on the minimum wage. We understand the necessity to have a proper minimum wage and we will not use this Bill to cut people's wages in a drastic way.

We need to bring some common sense to the wage agreements in various sectors over the past 60 years. Hopefully, we will get it right. It is important that we are more transparent in these agreements and in the Labour Court committees. This Bill gives the Minister of the day more power and more involvement in setting these agreements. Some will say that this is a scary thing but in my view it gives the House more powers. For too long, I watched politicians here trying to give away powers and blaming other people for every decision made. It is time that this House, through the Minister, the Government and committees, started to make more decisions, which it is supposed to do. Members should stop trying to hide behind every other sector and group. This Bill reintroduces relevant decision making to this House when it comes to setting terms of employment and wage rates. That is useful and will be of benefit as we go along.

The Minister has made it clear that he will take on board the views of others and amendments will be made. I look forward to examining the amendments on Committee Stage. The High Court recommendation and the Duffy Walsh report both said that we must be very clear in setting out the principles behind any agreement. Everyone must be involved in that debate in order to set out who has what powers. It was not clear over the years and the waters were muddied since then, probably because they were too many agreements, some of which were defunct. The other part of the Bill I welcome is that the Minister will deal with the unnecessary ones immediately.

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