"The Government will legislate to help employees whose contracts do not reflect the reality of the hours they work, and will prohibit so-called zero hour contracts." These were the words of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar last night when he spoke to employers group IBEC.
He also said his Government would try in the next budget to reward work and benefit those on middle incomes who pay a higher rate of tax.
Too many people feel that they pay for everything but get little in return.
High taxes that take away 49% of the overtime you do, the extra hours you work, or the pay increase you earned are a barrier to opportunity and to work.
On top of these plans Varadkar also spoke of introducing a pension scheme for private sector workers:
This will include introduction of an auto-enrolment pension scheme for private sector workers, two-thirds of whom currently have no occupational pension to supplement their state pension.
I anticipate the first payments being made into those new individually held funds by 2021.
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IBEC Director of Employer Relations Maeve McElwee has countered Varadkars suggestion of abolishing zero hour contracts by saying such legislation would lead to significant costs and administration for all employers .
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, she said it was "disproportionate" legislation that would impact all employers.
She also said employers would be asking for a regulatory impact assessment to be carried out before any legislation is put into place to weigh the "significant" economic cost it would have on employers.
