Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)

I do not see why the Minister objects to the amendment. It seeks to establish a legal bottom line regarding compliance and enforcement in order that there will be no ambiguity. The agency and the hirer would be jointly and severally responsible for breaches of the legislation and it would be clear that this was the case. This would not preclude workers from going to the rights commissioner and so on. We want a legal bottom line written into the legislation whereby agencies and hiring employers will be held responsible if they breach the Bill. That is what the amendment seeks and I do not see why the Minister objects to it. He should consider it a sensible and reasonable addition to the Bill.

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