Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is not my intention to slow down the Bill. We have passed an amendment in my name, which provides that the Bill is to come into operation within six months. I am the one who is trying to speed up the Bill. The Minister did not answer the main question on how long it will take to draw up the regulations. I could draw them up myself in a day. There is no reason whatsoever not to have the Bill debated in the Seanad when we come back, which, we must remember, we will not do until after the summer recess.

We are on Report Stage at this late stage but I do not know why the Bill was not introduced earlier. It is where we are. The Bill will not become law before the autumn whether we like it or not.

The Minister indicates there has been the same definition since 1979 and there has been no problem. However, she also says the nature of work is changing. The question of what is or is not casual work will come more to the fore. I have every confidence in the Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Court to make a decision but if the circumstances are set out and a particular category of work designated in a certain way, it would save everybody and a person would never have to go to the Labour Court or Workplace Relations Commission. The process would be very much simplified. I hope when the Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Court begin to define and interpret the term "casual work", they will not do so too broadly. If they do, the protection that has been there since 1979 will be considerably diminished.

This is the thinking behind the amendment. The Minister has indicated it is very simple and everybody knows what is casual work. They do not, and different people have different ideas about it. There are obvious examples, of which we are all aware and which the Minister mentioned. It would not be like trying to write the ten commandments to produce a simple regulation setting out, generally speaking, what is to be regarded as casual work.

See this speech in context