Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

My amendment No. 5 is similar to amendment No. 4. I appreciate that the Government's amendment No. 7 is an effort to address our concerns on this issue, which the Tánaiste indicated previously that he would consider. What he has proposed is an advance and it certainly is welcome. It captures the situation of childcare workers, who adhere to a fixed pattern of work that includes a break of a couple of months every year. Despite what people might like to think about me, I am not suggesting that this is an issue with all employers. I understand the need for employers. However, some of them use the tactic of taking people on, letting them go, taking them on again and so forth. They do it to keep workers on their toes and ensure they feel vulnerable etc.

If we are to deal with those rogue employers, if we want to call them that, I am not sure whether amendment No. 7 does enough. I am sure the intention is that they would be captured but I am not just not sure the amendment achieves that. As an Teachta Paul Murphy said, I would welcome clarification from the Tánaiste in terms of how service can be accumulated over a number of years where there is more than one break in service. Given the nature of seasonal work and the situation of vulnerable workers, who might be working on contract rather than being directly employed and may be laid off for a week and then taken back, the service requirement is difficult. I am not hostile to there being some service requirement but what we learned during the pandemic is that the people who are the most vulnerable are those who are the lowest paid. If we do not get this right, they are the ones who are least likely to benefit from this protection. I fully appreciate this is not the Tánaiste's intention, but it is important to allow people to accumulate the service and to make it very clear how they can do so.

I understand there was consultation recently by the Department of Social Protection on developing an app that would give information on how people can accumulate entitlements. I wonder whether something similar might be developed to deal with the accumulation of the entitlement to sick leave over a number of years. Is that what is intended by amendment No. 7? ICTU was very clear that the people who will be most impacted by the requirement for continuous service are foreign-born workers, women and vulnerable workers who may have difficulty accessing their rights and entitlements at work. These are the workers who probably are least likely to be trade union members but who would be most likely to benefit from such membership. I ask the Tánaiste to take us through amendment No. 7, how it will work and whether it will address our concerns.

See this speech in context