Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for indicating she is happy to engage subsequently on the question of the trends. There is a problem with relying solely on the Workplace Relations Commission inspections. Those inspections can address the individual instances and highlight them. Of course, individual instances of the breach may be captured and responded to. I welcome the Minister of State's indication of serious measures to be taken for such breaches, but we are not necessarily talking about the breaches.Sometimes we are talking about the pattern. In many cases, it may not be the case that the terms and conditions have been breached; it may be the case that the terms and conditions of an employment contract are completely legal but very poor. We are moving towards a pattern of poor practice and a deterioration in terms and conditions. The latter may be legal but they are deteriorating.

That is where certain sectoral analysis comes in. For example, we worked hard at one point to have joint labour committees introduced. The idea was that we were trying to raise the bar on a sector-by-sector basis and improve standards. I give credit to the Government because, for instance, progress has been made in areas such as childcare and there has been an attempt to raise the bar in terms of standards in the sector.

The concern is to ensure that in the context of seasonal and regular permit holders, we monitor the comparative in order to ensure that seasonal permits or the threat of moving to them are not used to drive down standards and terms and conditions for workers in a sector. All of that might be legal, but the focus must be on the pattern. When we identify the pattern, we must identify whether workers' terms and conditions and their remuneration are improving in line with inflation and the cost of everything or whether they are deteriorating. Regardless of whether that deterioration is legal, it is certainly not the policy intent of the Minister of State, the Government or any of us in the Oireachtas. That is why it is so important to ensure that the patterns are monitored. It is not a case of looking at breaches of the rules; we must look at the impact of new laws in order that we can identify whether some of them have had an inadvertently negative impact.

I will press the amendment, but I look forward to engaging with the Minister of State on the question of trends. It is something to be considered. While monitoring every case may be onerous, I do not believe that it is too onerous to identify cross-sections. For example, the Department or some of the many research bodies to which the Government has access should have the capacity to sample the conditions of regular and seasonal permit holders across a number of key and relevant sectors.