Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I support the spirit of this Bill and what it is trying to achieve, particularly as the measure does not arise in a vacuum but from a particular background. I have counted six reports alone which, since 2013, have highlighted precarious hours in precarious jobs, leading employees to have precarious lives.

We had a report from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions in May 2013, Regulating for Decent Work. Imagine that congress felt it necessary to have a report on regulating for decent work 100 years after the 1913 Lockout. In 2013, the Mandate trade union found that 17% of people living below the poverty line worked in precarious jobs. Fast forwarding to November 2015, the report on low pay by a joint Oireachtas committee made 28 recommendations. Also in 2015, we had the Limerick study which found that 5.3% of employees had constantly variable hours.

Last month, the Unite union published a report entitled The Truth About Irish Wages. Almost 100 years after we got our freedom, this report clearly highlighted some shocking statistics, including a finding that Ireland has the second highest level of wage inequality after Portugal when it comes to the difference between the lowest and highest paid. Earlier today, we saw a report by Social Justice Ireland. Unfortunately, the Minister for Social Protection has gone because I wanted to quote two figures to him. The number of people living in poverty in Ireland has increased by more than 100,000 bringing it up to 750,000. Most notably, 18% of adults living in poverty are employed - that is almost one in five. The absence of a guaranteed level of regular earnings has the most serious implications for an employee. It makes it extremely difficult for him or her to have any certainty over meeting bills, getting a mortgage or other loan, or generally planning for the week ahead, not to mind the future.

I support this Bill although I see there will be a need for some amendments to it. At the very least, however, it sets out to rectify one aspect of the precarious employment situation that many thousands of people find themselves in.

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