I welcome the legislation before the House, which makes a number of important reforms in an effort to improve consistency, clarity and certainty on the subject of redundancy payments. Employment legislation in Ireland has developed considerably over the last 30 years, in response to economic development, social reform and membership of the European Union. In the area of redundancy payments, it has been argued that the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967-91 dealt with an economy very different from that which exists today and that major improvements are needed to meet the demands of a modern economy.