Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

This constant bashing of employers has to stop. I am not going to talk about Pat McDonagh or anybody else. They are good employers but there might be issues there; I do not know. However, employers should be respected because workers will walk away and work elsewhere if they are not paid. The market is there and there is the market value. People must be respected in work. However, I mention regulations and the National Employment Rights Authority, NERA. This should be changed to the national employers' support agency because there are no supports for employers, especially small and medium-sized employers. It is regulations all the time and visits at midnight or maybe 12.05 a.m. to hotels to ask if employers are paying the extra rate after midnight. It is regressive and some of the people out there with their briefcases would not know anything about work either. They do not care. It is about support. Mol an óige agus tiocfaidh sí. Mol na daoine atá ag obair agus tiocfaidh siad freisin. We need to look after the people who want to work and allow them to work but the environment that is there now is to drive people away from employing people. That is what it is. It is regulation after regulation and agency after agency and they are doing nothing to help with the cost of living but everything to damage the ability of the employers to employ more people.

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