Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)

That is correct as regards the provision of information and consultation. The legislation provides that it must be an employee. The other point raised by Senator McDowell relates to cases where an employer does not conduct collective bargaining negotiations with a trade union or other accepted body. As the Cathaoirleach and Senators McDowell and Quinn will be aware, that is an issue for different legislation some time in the future. A voluntary system is currently in place which will continue. It would not be appropriate to depart from that in the context of this legislation. That is a fundamentally different issue.

A number of points were raised by Senators Quinn and White. Senator White had concerns about the process of election and whether people might be willing to embrace that concept. I was interested in the examples given by Senator O'Toole as regards small schools, etc., where people might not have been too enthusiastic about embracing the procedure but nevertheless did so. I am also interested in the workplace context, at the manner in which the appointment or election of safety officers is undertaken. People tend to be quite proactive in that area and I am pleased about that.

Senator Quinn raised the point, which he has highlighted a number of times, about a very cumbersome bureaucracy. It is a fair point but it is possible to implement this legislation in a manner that manages to comply with the directive, encourages good practice and is not overly cumbersome. We have come close to that objective in the Bill. By the time the Bill has been passed by the Oireachtas we will have legislation that is user-friendly on both sides of the industrial spectrum. That is certainly my hope.

A couple of issues were raised by Senator O'Toole. One related to amendment No. 22, which I confess I entirely misunderstood. I thought he was proposing that people should be precluded from serving after three years. He clarified that. One of the reasons this rang alarm bells is that there is a provision in the Fianna Fáil Party rules that officers must retire after a four-year term. Having seen the amount of angst that creates, I would have been reluctant to accept the Senator's amendment. However, he has clarified that people should be entitled to seek another term of office. That is dealt with separately in the Bill in terms of the entering into new agreements.

The other point Senator O'Toole makes is about the entire process and is, in a sense, also being made by those who are represented as being somewhat more concerned on the employer side. Naturally on Committee Stage we are reviewing section 6 in its own right. However, sections 8 and 9, in particular, impact very strongly on section 6. Under these sections all negotiated and pre-existing agreements must be approved by the majority of the employees, therefore, the concern which Senator O'Toole expressed about section 6(1), on employee representatives, is dealt with under both sections 8 and 9, which specify that a negotiated or pre-existing agreement must be approved by a majority of the employees or a majority of employee representatives.