Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I do not mean what I or the Minister might define as "underemployed" when I use that term. It is very positive that we have part-time work. We should probably embrace the concept more. We need to look to quality part-time work. In terms of underemployment, I am speaking to the figures. These figures are from last year so it would be interesting to see how they stack up. The previous figures show that a majority of those who are involuntarily underemployed are women. That is the point I was making. That is the case in terms of those who are underemployed involuntarily and who would like to work more hours.

How hours might be offered is not such a mystery. I am indicating a direction I may go with the amendment I will table in respect of this matter on Report Stage. During my time as a shop steward in Trócaire, where I represented 180 staff members, one of the issues we had was the question of the internal offering of positions. There was a requirement that positions would be offered internally prior to being advertised externally . That was in respect of positions but perhaps there could be a similar mechanism regarding any extra hours that might emerge. Provision could be made for such hours to be advertised internally and to give due opportunity for people to seek to avail of them before their being advertised externally. That mechanism worked very well in quite a large organisation that had a sizeable staff complement. Again, it was something that was won rather than granted, but it worked effectively for many years.

How what is proposed here would work is not such a mystery. We have many good templates. It is something I may look to. The offer should certainly be made internally first but we can look at the mechanism by which that would be done.