Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

I meant to come back to that. Section 12(9) includes a guarantee that a person cannot "be brought to less beneficial conditions of service" or employment, "save in accordance with a collective agreement negotiated with any recognised trade union". Section 12(11) provides for negotiations for a period "of not more than 6 months from the passing of this Act". The best way to explain it is to say that there will not be a diminution of terms and conditions unless there is a collective agreement. The Bill provides for a period of six months for such an agreement to be reached. Section 12(11) establishes in legislation the principle of collective bargaining, which was sought during the negotiations on the Bill with the trade union movement. The words on which we should focus are "save in accordance with a collective agreement". The employees in question cannot be worse off in the absence of such an agreement. I presume that any agreement worth its salt will make employees better off, rather than worse off.