Personally I think the whole system is a mess. I have a single pilot IR but can't fly single pilot public transport as I dont have 700 hours total time. I can get a job with an airline flying multicrew though, so why have I done all of my training for single pilot ops when I am then not allowed to use it, rather than doing training for multipilot ops which I can?
Although it would be interesting if they brought in this new qualification and then said you couldnt fly RHS in a jet unless you had 700 hours multicrew time...