Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I can assure people that there will not be a cliff edge on 28 February when a lot of the measures are due to expire. We will make decisions no later than the Cabinet meeting next Tuesday, we will inform the Dáil and the public next Tuesday and then any legislation that has to be done between now and 28 February will be done. I know we will have the Deputy's co-operation with that matter.

On the Mandate report, as the Deputy knows, we are moving from a national minimum wage to a living wage. This is year one of the four-year process of doing that. I understand that in its report, Mandate points out that a lot of retail workers would like to earn more by working longer hours but the banded hours contract system prevents them from doing that. I believe in rewarding work and in making work pay more. If people want to work longer hours, they should be allowed to do so, provided it is not a breach of the working time directive. On foot of the report Mandate has published, the Minister of State with responsibility for employment affairs and retail business, Deputy Richmond, will be happy to sit down with Mandate, hear it out and see how he can respond in a meaningful way.

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