Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am particularly interested in the fair hours of employment rules. This is an issue for people in well-paid jobs earning above the minimum wage when one equates the number of hours they deliver. I am speaking specifically about the professions. Teachers employed one or two days a week must be available five days a week. Young trainee accountants and solicitors on a salary work until 10 p.m., 11 p.m. or midnight. When we look at the national minimum wage somewhere in the grouping must be an examination of what are fair hours of employment. This must move outside those on the lowest levels of salary or pay and cover the entire workforce. There is a massive amount of what I would call exploitation going on in the professions. I have met young people, particularly trainee accountants and solicitors, and I ask myself why they do not stand up and say they will not work after 6 p.m. because they are not paid to do so, but they do not. The only way something can be done about this is through the opportunity included in the amendment tabled by Senator Cullinane to speak about fair hours of work. For this reason I support the amendment.