Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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23. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the amount by which casualisation, internships - both private and Government-sponsored - and temporary working in the labour market have increased since 2007; if his Department will seek to obtain statistics on the growth of zero-hour contracts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29936/14]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Labour market flexibility needs to be complemented by support to workers enabling them to make smooth transitions between different types of labour market status (e.g. activation measures for the unemployed, training for employment, work experience options, transitions towards self-employment). The quality of transitions will determine the quality of a worker’s career and the smooth functioning of the labour market.

Ireland has a comprehensive body of employment rights legislation which has among its objectives the protection of employees and the quality of transitions between different contractual arrangements. Specific areas covered by employment rights legislation include, for example, the protection of part-time work, the protection of fixed-term work, the protection of temporary work and the protection of persons engaged by temporary work agencies.

There were 76,561 casual and part-time workers on the Live Register in June 2014, which represents 19.2% of the total Live Register. This compares with 20.3% one year earlier when there were 88,322 casual and part-time workers on the Live Register. In the year to June 2014 the number of casual and part-time workers decreased by 11,761.

The increase in QNHS total employment of 47,000 in Q1 2014 was made up of an increase in full-time employment of 46,400 (+3.3%) while part-time employment declined by 3,700 (-0.8%). This is in sharp contrast to the rest of the EU where there has been steady growth in the number of employees working part-time, while the number of fulltime workers has continued to fall.

The objective of the Action Plan for Jobs is to support sustainable job creation by creating the operating conditions where businesses can start-up and grow. The efforts of IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland are geared to creating full-time employment rather than part-time employment and this is reflected in their employment trends. Jobs Plus, the Department of Social Protection’s employer incentive scheme has helped recruit over 2,000 long-term unemployed jobseekers from the Live Register to fill full-time positions since its introduction last July and is deliberately designed to encourage employers to provide full-time jobs. While full-time employment is the focus of our policy efforts, I recognise that in Ireland as indeed throughout Europe, temporary and part-time jobs area a contribution to job creation since in the medium to long run they may act as a stepping stone to permanent or full-time contracts.

I appreciate the Deputy’s concerns about the way in which zero hour contracts can operate. I have, on previous occasions, pointed out that the manner in which these contracts are regulated in Ireland differs from the position in the United Kingdom, where they have generated greater controversy. In particular, workers engaged under mutually agreed zero hour contracts in Ireland are entitled to compensation where shifts for zero-hours workers are cancelled at short notice.