Martin Brady (Fianna Fail)

I acknowledge the sentiments expressed by Senator Quinn. He made sensible suggestions and observations.

During the Celtic tiger years a large number of people were drawing unemployment assistance; I believe the figure was well over 100,000. These were people who never worked at any stage. It is wrong to keep doling out money to somebody who has no intention of seeking work. It is bad for society and for the person, and we should never encourage that.

People should be at least 20% better off financially working than on the dole. I will give the Minister of State an example. Colm McCarthy gave us figures for that in the an bord snip nua report. Someone on the dole can get payments ranging from €25,000 up to €50,000. Why would anybody bother looking for a job in that case, especially if one has a medical card and so on? That must be examined. We must motivate people to work and give them incentives and as Senator Quinn said, we must be competitive also. Why would someone start a business if their overheads are too high and they cannot be competitive?

I spoke to a business person last week who had a small café in a service station. These people are the backbone of the economy. Senator Phelan would know the place I refer to because he visited it also. It is in Cavan. I asked this person how business was and he said he was over-regulated. Representatives of the National Employment Rights Authority, NERA, were calling. If an employee is pregnant there are about eight forms to be completed. He told me one would need a full-time clerical officer to deal with all the forms. If the café is open on a Sunday he has to pay staff treble time. In hotels NERA representatives call in the middle of the night and query all of that while the staff themselves are happy to work at the normal rate to keep their jobs.