Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I echo Deputy Pearse Doherty's point about introducing detailed amendments at such a late stage when Deputies have not had an opportunity to properly study them. We do not have the explanations that are normally provided in the explanatory memorandum of a Bill, as initiated. While the Minister has an explanation available to him, Opposition Deputies must work out what this proposal, with its various unexplained references to principal Acts and so forth, means. If we are to deal with these types of amendments, we should have an opportunity to read the notes provided to the Minister before the debate. This is also true of other significant Report Stage amendments.

The Minister did not answer the question as to whether these allowances are available to people who are in the business of providing child care services or fitness centres. I ask him to clarify this matter.

Deputy Doherty's question brought to mind another question which follows on to some extent from the point he made. Must the facilities be made available to all employees free of charge in order that the provider can benefit from the allowances? One could imagine a scenario in which an employer or the top executives of a company build a very nice child care facility for themselves which they do not make available to other employees in the workplace. In such circumstances, the facility would be a major boon for the bosses but of no benefit to the workers. Similarly, one could imagine a nice spanking gym being provided for the executives or owners of a company, which would be of no benefit to general employees. Has provision been made to guard against such a scenario and ensure every employee is a beneficiary of the facilities for which the allowances would be provided?

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