Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I encourage colleagues to take a lead from us. I do not think we need to come back to do this on a second day. I mean that respectfully since I know everyone has important points to make. We need to get this Bill through before Christmas and the Minister will have our support. I welcome all the provisions in the Bill. The points about specifying hours are welcome. I would like to see a complete ban of if-and-when contracts but we will support this Bill as it stands. The point about introducing a payment floor is welcome, as are the narrow bands in the Bill. We are happy to look at the point the Minister makes about how to redraft the "more or less" phrasing and we will hopefully not have any issues with it.

We need a definition of casual work. We are not going to object to it in this Bill. I see it across the hotel sector in Limerick. People have been working for years in hotels under a casual contract and employment so there is a problem there. I want to talk about self-employment. Deputy O'Dea's amendment is well-intended but it will delay this Bill and, therefore, we will work with the Government to make sure this Bill comes through. There is a major problem with bogus self-employment. I speak from my experience as a union official. We need new legislation. Current legislation is not comprehensive enough. I hope, as does the Minister, that the Joint Committee on Employment Affairs and Social Protection will deal with that swiftly. We differ with regard to sub-minimum rates of pay. The Minister knows that from a previous conversation. We will not lodge objections at this point because we want to see this Bill go through.

It is important that we look at Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, resources. Some €444,000 of unpaid wages were recovered last year in the food and drink sector alone from 600 investigations. When there is a non-compliance rate for employers as high as 54%, that tells us there is a major problem, so we need to look at that with regard to making sure we have more resources. I respectfully disagree with our colleague, Senator Ardagh, about criminalisation. We need it because unfortunately increasing numbers of employers are ignoring WRC recommendations and even enforcement orders. I have brought some of those issues to the attention of Cabinet colleagues of the Minister. We should welcome this Bill. It reflects well on the Minister, on the committee and on the tremendous work of trade union movements and colleagues across all parties. I wish it every success.