James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

While I accept zero-hour contracts and similar if-and-when contracts are not very prominent in our society, they do affect primarily people in the most vulnerable positions. Job insecurity and the casualisation of the workforce is something we are seeing growing, and that is why this matter has come to a head in the last few years. Bringing clarity to work hours is essential to creating decent jobs, in particular for those people who are in the most vulnerable sections of our society. Where I come from, in the south east, in Wexford in particular, a high proportion of people rely on these jobs. A recent report only last week highlighted the fact that Wexford and the south east in particular has 7,000 fewer third-level education positions and 6,000 fewer IDA jobs in proportion to its population when compared to the rest of the country. I ask the Ministers to bring in a task force or to do something urgent to address those issues.

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