Debate contribution: Employment Rights Bill
Debate contribution by Dr Caoimhe Archibald on .
- MLA
- Dr Caoimhe Archibald
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 19 May 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Employment Rights Bill
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5549488
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I thank the Member for his question, I think. I am very serious about the legislation. Considerable work has gone into drafting the Bill, and considerable engagement has been undertaken to get us to the point of having the draft. I do not consider the time that it has taken to be a lengthy delay, as the Member characterised it. I consider it to have been time well spent in developing legislation that meets the needs of businesses and workers, which is what I committed to do when I published the proposals last year. I said that we would continue to work, particularly in two areas where further work was required: zero-hours contracts and trade union access. Since we first announced the Bill until now, over 100 engagements have taken place to inform what is now with the Executive. That was work that was well done and needed, and I am hopeful that, when the Bill is introduced in the Assembly, with all the important measures that we have spoken about, people will reflect, see the detail for themselves and recognise that we have tried to strike the right balance. The Economy Committee has an important role thereafter in scrutinising the Bill, and the Assembly will ultimately decide what is in the Bill.
213 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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