Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As Minister of State with responsibility for employment and small business, I congratulate Mr. Kevin Foley on his appointment as chairman of the Labour Court. I also congratulate Ms Oonagh Buckley on her appointment as director general of the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC.

I wish them well in their new roles.

I have listened with great interest to the debate this evening. I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak as Minister of State with responsibility for employment and small business. Our debate must first and foremost be placed in the context of the programme for Government commitment to tackle the problems caused by the increased casualisation of work and to strengthen the regulation of precarious work. The maintenance and improvement of strong protections for workers have been, and will continue to be, a key element of Government policy as we seek to build on the progress made in recent years in our economic recovery. In this respect, the Minister indicated earlier our commitment to bring forward legislation to protect workers on low-hour contracts in response to the University of Limerick, UL, study. It is important to point out that we will bring forward legislation on this important issue. Our proposals will be balanced and workable. They will have the benefit of being informed by the UL study itself and by the large number of submissions received in response to the public consultation. A large number of submissions were made. If we are bringing in legislation, we must respond to them and consider them very carefully.

In response to Deputy Cullinane, I wish to state that we will not play games with this issue. We must strike a correct balance between the rights and needs of workers and of employers. We must find solutions that make sense and that work in practice for all concerned. Striking the right balance will also be important in terms of continuing to make progress on the jobs and employment front. Deputy Barry said that we were totally out of touch on this issue. I can assure the Deputy, who has left the Chamber, that we are not out of touch. We are very much in touch. Since I was appointed Minister of State with responsibility for employment and small business, the Minister and I have worked closely with the officials in our Department on this matter. I assure the House of this. Recent CSO figures show that the number of casual and part-time workers is continuing to fall. In the year to May 2016, the number of such workers fell by 7.8%. This is particularly relevant in the context of this debate and the concerns expressed by some speakers about the increasing casualisation of work. Also noteworthy is the strong downward trend in the figures for part-time underemployment, which declined to 99,100 in the first quarter of 2016 from a high of more than 150,000 in 2012. I ask the Opposition to take note of that. Again, this is a very positive trend and an indicator that we are moving in the right direction and that more people are in a better position in terms of their hours of work and earnings.

It is clear that this Sinn Féin Bill is motivated by a dispute between one employer and a trade union. However, the Bill provides a right for every worker in every sector of the economy to request additional hours.

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