Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I formally congratulate the Minister of State on his appointment and I wish him well in his job. I thank him for a most comprehensive outline of the purpose of this Bill. It needs to be comprehensive because the Bill is very important and substantial legislation. For many years Ireland has been to the fore in workplace relations and in protecting workers' rights. This means that Ireland is regarded as a suitable country in which to invest and to create jobs and where workers' rights will be upheld and which has a proper appeals mechanism.

The former Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, has been speaking on Committee Stage in the Dáil. He worked on this Bill in the previous Government. Fianna Fáil supports the Bill. We will be bringing forward amendments on Committee Stage. I will consult outside organisations with regard to section 72. I assume the Minister of State has done likewise with regard to removing the need for fees to be paid to access the WRC. Speaking personally, the idea of charging people who do not turn up for an approved appointment is a good one in cases where no acceptable excuse is provided. This could also be applied in the health sector.

I will table amendments on Committee Stage on behalf of Fianna Fáil. I ask the Minister of State to consider the issue of retired and deferred members of pension schemes. I refer to the example of what has happened to the airline workers. People who have left a company and are no longer in its employ, either retired and in receipt of a pension or who have left the company but retain pension benefits in the pension scheme, have no seat at the table. I will table amendments in this regard.

The Minister of State's party leader, the Tánaiste, made an announcement on pensions reform. I use that term in the broadest possible sense because her idea of pensions reform would be very different from mine. It is important that deferred and retired members would have a seat at the table. I will look at the appropriate part in which to table an amendment. We need a commitment somewhere in legislation that those who have worked for a company and those who still have a stake in a company will have a say in what is happening to their pension entitlements and benefits.

Fianna Fáil will study the Bill in more detail with a view to tabling amendments on Committee Stage. I reiterate that the issue of retired and soon to be retired workers needs to be considered, whether in this Bill or in other legislation. This type of legislation will need to be updated regularly.

Our working lives are changing in terms of the way people work, the type of jobs they have, and the fact that people have multiple jobs. That is something that needs to be kept under review on a constant basis. On behalf of the Fianna Fáil group, I welcome the legislation. We want to work with the Minister of State on Committee Stage. We will table amendments which we hope will meet with the approval of the Minister of State in terms of some of the changes he wishes to make. I would like him to respond, perhaps not today but on Committee Stage when we table amendments, and to look clearly at the area of pension scheme members who no longer work for a company. The Tánaiste mentioned the issue only yesterday. This is an opportunity to address the issue and to right a wrong that exists at present. I again thank the Minister of State for being present and for outlining the detail of the Workplace Relations Bill 2014.