Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to have the opportunity to introduce the Bill. The Government is delivering on its commitments and this Bill is being brought forward in response to the commitment in A Programme for a Partnership Government to tackle “the problems caused by the increased casualisation of work and to strengthen the regulation of precarious work”.

If enacted, this Bill will improve the security and predictability of working conditions for employees on precarious contracts. I make no apologies for saying there is a particular focus on low-paid, more vulnerable employees in this Bill and I acknowledge that many Members share my interest in workers' rights and have strong views on this legislation. I genuinely look forward to hearing them during the debate.

However, I am conscious that the vulnerable employees whose lives the Bill will improve have been waiting almost a year since it was published. I would like a Bill that emerges out of this House that the President is able to sign into law as quickly as possible and, please God, it will be before Christmas. We also want to make sure that the legislation is balanced, resilient and that it works in practice.

In a dynamic and ever changing global environment, thankfully, the economy continues to strengthen and expand. The number of people on the live register is the lowest today since May 2008. The number of people in full-time employment accounts for 80% of all employment. However, we must remember those people who, not by choice, are in less secure arrangements and may not know from week to week what hours they will be working. This makes it difficult for them to plan their lives outside of work and the Bill will significantly improve employment protections for them.

Ireland should be proud of its robust suite of employment rights, which provide broad protections to all employees. We have modern dispute resolution structures in the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, and the Labour Court which are easy to access for both employers and employees. The WRC provides comprehensive early resolution, mediation and adjudication services in relation to the full spectrum of employment rights cases and all of these services are free to the users. It also has a proactive labour inspectorate which carries out workplace inspections to ensure the employment rights of workers and responsibilities of employers are respected. The WRC has an enforcement function in respect of breaches of employment legislation and we have the second highest national minimum wage in the European Union. This Bill is intended to build on that strong foundation.

I took over responsibility for this Bill in September 2017 when certain employment affairs functions were transferred from the former Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to what is now the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge the work of those who came before me on this Bill’s journey. In that respect I acknowledge the work of the Minister of State at the Departments of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and Social Protection, the Taoiseach and Justice and Equality, Deputy Breen, the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills, Deputy Mitchell O’Connor, and Senator Ged Nash, who as Minister of Stat with responsibility for business and employment in the previous Government, commissioned the University of Limerick, UL, to conduct a study of the prevalence of zero-hour contracts and low-hour contracts in the economy.