Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to discuss this Bill, which is part of a major suite of changes we need to undertake. There is no doubt that we are living at a time of extraordinary transition in the way our economy works. We are in the aftermath of a financial crisis that shook people's faith in the regulators that had responsibility for keeping us safe financially. We have passed through the Covid period, which rocked to the core many of our assumptions about how we can protect ourselves. We are now in the midst of a digital and data revolution that is transforming the way enterprises operate and business is done.

It is really important that we recalibrate some of the rights and responsibilities of enterprise in this period of extraordinary change. I see this measure, along with many of the other measures the Tánaiste and the Minister of State, Deputy English, are seeking to promote as part of this recalibration of what we expect from a modern, responsible enterprise. It is really significant that we have introduced legislation on sick pay, which was a major gap in employee protections exposed by the Covid crisis. Legislation is being worked on to deliver a right to request remote working. Today, the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment, of which I am a member, published its response to the proposals put forward by the Government in this regard. It is fair to say we would like the Government to be more ambitious in the development of those rights. We are also seeing the development of the concept of a living wage, which recognises that many aspects of precarious living have been thrown up by the new digital models that are changing our world.

There are some who would seek to stop open trading relationships and the open economy approach that has been so valuable to Ireland in its development over my time in the Dáil. Those who take that view see imbalances in the way some of that economy model has worked. We have seen those imbalances acutely, not only in terms of how employees are impacted but also in how our environment is treated. We must come to a position whereby new responsibilities are articulated by the Government in respect of data, consumer protection, sustainability and the adoption of circular models, and flexibility in regard to working relationships. I see this Bill as part of the suite of measures we need to undertake, recognising that people in vulnerable working situations can often be abused if what customers think in good faith is a payment they are giving for the benefit of workers is instead being pocketed by others. The new regulatory obligation that is coming in the direction of enterprise under these proposals will be described as a burden by some. In my view, however, it is the means by which we can protect the sort of business model that has been so important to a small, open trading economy like ours.

The Minister of State has done more than many in this House to strike the balance we need between small enterprises struggling to keep their heads above water and to keep a complex set of relationships going, and, at the same time, the need to transform and to take on the greater public responsibilities that enterprises have to internalise. I wish the Minister of State well. One of the most significant initiatives I have seen in this Dáil is a growing impetus from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment to recognise this new direction of travel. I urge that consideration be given to concepts such as the circular economy, which I believe are truly transformative. At the heart of the circular economy is how we can take environmental damage out of the way in which we live our lives, just as we are seeking in this Bill to take some of the social damage out of the way we live our lives. I urge the Minister of State, the senior Minister and the staff of the Department to continue to also develop new ways of ensuring, as we strive in respect of enterprise and success, that we do not undermine our environment, the rights of our consumers or the rights of our employees and that we promote upskilling, flexibility in the workplace and gender equality, an aspect we will debate later. These are the values that must be at the heart of a modern, high-performing enterprise and this is what we seek to strive to achieve with this Bill.

We must of course try to strike a balance between the pressures on the day-to-day activities of enterprises, but the Minister of State has performed extraordinarily well in this regard. He has been willing to sit down and talk to people and to talk through the requirements. This legislation is a good approach. It embodies fairness. It is not overly prescriptive. It relies on display notices and on the power of enforcement. This is the right balance to strike. It also has, ultimately, the teeth to enforce its provisions to ensure these requirements cannot be ignored. I wish the Minister of State well in his work. I am thankful to have had the opportunity to speak on this important Bill.

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