Mary White (Fianna Fail)

I do not wish to criticise the Leas-Chathaoirleach but I was watching the clock when Opposition Members were speaking. With Internet access, conference calls, wireless communications, mobile phones, laptops and e-mail, there is no reason a person must be under a particular roof from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to do a job. Conference calls and e-mails mean that the standard office setting no longer exists for many jobs. Accordingly, the argument that an employee must be in an office from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. has been greatly challenged by modern technology.

In my White Paper on a new approach to child care in 2006, I called for the introduction of a flexible working Bill that would allow parents to spend more time with newborn babies. The Bill has been drawn up and would be ready to go if I could get the momentum from my colleagues. The proposed legislation would allow working parents who have been employed in a job for at least 26 weeks and who have a child aged under six or a disabled child under 18 to apply for work flexibility. Employers, in turn, would have a statutory obligation to consider the application seriously. While the legislation does not provide an automatic right to work flexibility, it aims to encourage both employees and employers to find solutions that would suit them both. The employer is required to follow specific procedures to ensure applications for work flexibility are considered seriously.

I do not have time to outline the benefits to both the employee and the employer, but the Minister of State's speech outlined that our vision is for all people to be able to work. The two cases I have addressed today are older people, those at the peak of their experience whom we currently tell to get lost, and young parents, who should have a legal entitlement to apply for flexibility and to negotiate in order that they can work from home.

We are delighted for the Minister of State, his family and his constituency in Cork that he has been granted the tremendous honour of serving as a Minister of State in the Government. His speech was a credit to him. I will keep and use it for the next few years because it contains everything we want to know about the labour market.