Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Despite the protestations of some people, we fully transposed the part-time workers directive a number of years ago in consultation with the social partners, including the trade unions, which were satisfied to sign off on it. Deputy Daly is studiously avoiding the fact that the economy has been transformed over the last couple of years. We need to be conscious that we have seen a decrease of 40% in part-time underemployment over the last two years. As I said at the conclusion of my previous remarks, the share of casual and part-time workers on the live register has decreased by almost 10% since June 2014. That is the equivalent of over 7,000 workers. There was a proliferation of part-time jobs in recent years, but all the evidence suggests that when the economy started to recover, many of those jobs migrated into full-time positions. I think we should all welcome that as an illustration of the strength of the economy and the acceleration of the economic recovery. Ultimately, my party and I are interested in providing decent and sustainable jobs for people in this economy because that is the right route out of poverty.

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