The Minister for Education and Science, Ms Hanafin, has welcomed a decision by the McDonald's fast-food chain not to allow Leaving Certificate students to work for it during the school week.
Speaking after she presented four scholarship awards to employees of McDonald's Ireland in Dublin yesterday, Ms Hanafin said she believed it was necessary to be very careful about the number of hours students worked.
Part-time working was not a negative thing, she said. However, she would like to see other businesses following the example set by Mc Donald's.
Ms Hanafin also announced that she had held discussions with her Cabinet colleague, the Minister of State for Labour Affairs, Mr Tony Killeen. These aimed to establish whether existing employment legislation to protect young people was being implemented properly, she said.
Earlier, the Minister stressed her belief in the need for balance when it came to part-time work by students .
"Part-time working while at school is not of itself a negative thing. Recent ESRI research has shown that up to 60 per cent of Leaving Certificate students have a regular part-time job," she said.
While there were advantages for both students and employers, it was very important to balance this with the need to protect students' long-term best interests.
Under the new rules, current McDonald's employees who are preparing for their Leaving Certificate will only be rostered to work at weekends and outside term time.
Prospective new employees who are studying for the Leaving will also be allowed to work only at weekends and during school holidays.
McDonald's Restaurants of Ireland estimates it employs approximately 500 fifth- and sixth-year students in its 71 restaurants.The company also announced at yesterday's press conference that it is to seek independent certification for its training programmes for students.
This will provide students with the opportunity to learn key transferable skills which they can use in their future careers, it says.