Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The idea behind this legislation is to eliminate precarious employment and that is something we have done in the proposed legislation. It has been referred to the Attorney General's office for priority drafting and it is important that we would get it back as soon as possible to put it in place to protect low-paid workers.

I will follow up the issue the Deputy raised about job advertisements, if he wishes, and revert to him on it. If he has more information on it, I will discuss it with my Department officials to see if we can deal with that type of activity that is happening with respect to jobs that are being advertised.

The future of work is a major issue and the Deputy mentioned the gig economy. There will be a change in the way we will be working in ten years' time. We should not forget the rights of our employees, regardless of what changes occur in the digital economy in the next five to ten years. There is good legislation in place and it has been proven to protect the interests of employees. We should bear that in mind in moving forward with any legislation, regardless of the massive changes that will arise with the development of the digital economy in the next five to ten years, but we must be mindful that people come first.

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