Joe O'Toole (Independent)

I accept that and have no argument with it. I know what the Minister of State has in mind but I want to know what it means. I am clear that it has a much wider application than he has just outlined. I am sure what he said is right and I have no objection to it. However, the term "the same contract of employment" is used twice in the Bill. The public service regularly has a contract of employment, a pro forma contract for any employees in whatever the job happens to be. That is the basis on which they are employed. People might leave and return under precisely the same contract as they had when they left. That is fair enough. The Minister of State can tell me whether I am wrong. I am reading the phrase and giving an explanation of it to establish the fact.

The Minister of State has in mind people in seasonal employment but what if someone decided that he or she had first refusal, in the Minister of State's words? If, for example, I work in the passport office for three months of this year and I have first refusal for the next three years but do not take it up for the first two years, I can return in the third year under the same conditions of employment and am still covered. That is fair enough. The Minister of State must recognise this has application and implications well beyond that. There are analogous cases in many different places. I presume that those who leave employment with the intention of coming back, who are not seconded and not on career breaks, and who return would be protected under the terms of this section and would not be regarded as new entrants.