Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to confirm that the Bill is scheduled for Second Stage in the Seanad on 20 November and for Committee Stage on 28 November. I am currently considering a small number of amendments, some of which are drafting amendments or just technicalities to be brought forward on Committee Stage. I will clarify the position during the Second Stage debate.

The Bill delivers on the commitment in A Programme for a Partnership Government to tackle the problems caused by the increased casualisation of work and to strengthen the regulations relating to precarious work. This is important legislation, the key objective of which is to improve the security and predictability of working hours for employees on insecure contracts and those working variable hours in all sectors of employment.

Good progress has been made over the past number of years, in the context of our economic recovery, to create new job opportunities, the majority of which are full-time positions. While this is great, we must remember those people who, not by choice, are in less secure arrangements and may not know from week to week what hours they are working. This makes it difficult for them to plan their lives outside work. The Bill will significantly improve the employment protections for all of those people. I want the Bill to complete its passage through the Oireachtas as quickly as possible in the current session. If we all work closely together, we will get this out of the Seanad and back into the Dáil and completed before Christmas so that we can deliver for the people who are in those precarious situations this year.

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