Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I indicated on Committee Stage that my officials had discussed the matters of staff rights, the future and the transfer of undertakings with the national lottery company. All relevant parties - the company itself, the management of An Post and the representative trade unions of the workers involved - focused on the clarification of all issues arising in the context of the new licensing regime. That is the normal way to do these things and the Deputy can rest assured the legal rights of staff will be completely safeguarded. I do not propose to write that into the legislation because labour legislation protects workers and all of the notions of contract rights are enshrined in labour law, rather than doing it on a case by case basis in the Bill. I am mindful of the rights of current workers, many of whom have a variety of rights, such as some of them being able to return to An Post, and all of that is being discussed by their representatives with my officials. We have also discussed the protection of agents' margins, another issue that will arise later in the debate.

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