David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

These are extremely important amendments which go to the matters at the heart of the Bill. They deal with terms and conditions of employment. There is no doubt that the employers in this case are well able to meet their obligations. Their student fees range from €2,000 to €4,500 for a part-time six month course. A lot of money is coming into these institutions. I received a briefing from Unite the Union on this matter. It highlights teachers' very precarious employment conditions and the variable pay rates. Unite has highlighted several abuses which currently exist in the system on foot of the fact that there is no provision for minimum employment standards. I urge the Minister of State to accept these amendments. It is unacceptable that minimum employment standards are not implemented in respect of certain employments. Those standards should be implemented universally. There is no reason to stand against what is proposed being applied in the limited areas to which this Bill relates. The abuses include the misuse and abuse of fixed-term contracts of between three months and one year. This idea is new to me, and I am 74 years old. In my day, by and large, people looked for jobs, had the for life and received pensions at the end. Now there are contracts for three months or a year in the teaching profession. That is absurd. Then there are the notorious and noxious zero-hour contracts. There may be a very limited justification for these generally but there is none in the context of the teaching profession. There is also the matter of people who do not have contracts at all.

I have a question to which Senator Ruane might reply in the context of amendment No. 66. It features a clause which specifies that "no less than twenty percent of these employees are employed under contracts of indefinite duration". I would think that ought to be "no more than". We do not want people to be employed in these bad conditions. I may have understood this but I hope that Senator Ruane will address this.

The matter of bogus self-employment has very much entered the political discourse. These are people who have been coerced by their employers into pretending that they are independent agencies who employ themselves. That is absolute rubbish. It is done so that employers can get away with abrogating their responsibilities in respect of employees.

This is a very important section of the Bill and these amendments are crucial. I strongly urge the Minister of State to accept them. It is quite wrong to contemplate a situation where the conditions applying to workers are below the minimum requirements for employment. How can any Minister stand over that? How can the Government not accept this amendment. Surely to God it should insist that minimum standards of employment are universal across this island and accept that there is absolutely no reason for this section to be excluded from that requirement.