The original motivation for introducing new legislation in this area arose from the increased number of redundancy claims since the initial conception in the 1960s. Nowadays the needs of employees and employers have changed to which the Government has responded as well as to calls to improve legislation in this area. My opinion, like that of many others, is that the key focus should be on job protection and creation. I know the Minister feels the same way. Legislation is certainly needed, especially when we consider that there was an almost 50% increase in the number of redundancy claims during 2001 compared to 2000.