Shane Ross (Independent)

Senator Quinn on the Order of Business raised the matter of sharing time on this matter. If he comes in, I will share time with him.

This issue is the need for the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment to make a statement on the campaign of the National Employment Rights Authority to review the pay and conditions records of employees in the restaurants sector. This issue, which has arisen suddenly and is affecting small businesses greatly, is as a result of the agreement between the social partners and, I assume, the National Employment Rights Authority which was set up to protect the rights of employees. While that is a laudable objective, the authority has taken unto itself certain powers, which it is entitled to do, and is exercising them in a manner which is suppressing and damaging small businesses, one of the most obvious examples being O'Brien's Sandwiches. There is an article in the Irish Examiner today which addresses this problem. While the decision of the NERA to travel the country at random, audit small businesses and see how their employees are treated may be well intentioned, it has had the effect of putting one or two businesses out of action and is causing great difficulty to others which are threatening to close shortly.

The problem is that two separate and anomalous employment rights orders were issued under the Act by the joint labour committee system. One applies to Dublin and the other applies to areas outside Dublin. They state specifically that employers must pay one and one third of the wage rate in Dublin, and double outside Dublin on Sundays. That is strange. It would be very nice if everyone could get double pay on Sundays and there is nothing wrong with that as an aspiration. When businesses are compelled by law to pay double pay and are unable to do so, however, they will collapse. The result will be that employees will be laid off. That has happened in at least one case of O'Brien's and will happen in others.

What struck me as strange is that if this is a social partnership issue, under the employment rights order there is no clause for inability to pay. There usually is, even if it may not be used to great effect or may have been used disingenuously in the past. If employers cannot make a profit because they must pay double to their employees on Sundays, why can they not plead inability to pay? Several employers have told me their employees are happy to be paid the same rate as on weekdays, but this is not permitted under this order. Both parties are in an unsatisfactory situation. The employer must close their business and the employee is out of a job. That is a real danger.

Sunday trading is becoming a normal part of activity in this country, as it is in the United States, the UK and Europe. The idea that employers should have to pay double rates for Sunday trading is outdated. If a business wishes to open and employ people and the employees wish, as is the case in O'Brien's, to work for those rates, it is reasonable. The Minister of State will have seen, as we all will have, the appalling unemployment figures yesterday. It is illogical that there are willing employers and employees and yet businesses are closing down.

I ask the Minister to take action to ensure the activities of the National Employment Rights Authority do not have the effect of closing businesses whose employees are treated well, by agreement, and where bona fide employees and employers are unable to participate in a mutually profitable joint venture.