Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Comhghairdeas leis an Aire Stáit in her new role. I am delighted to have her in the House as a Minister of State. It is a big honour. I am glad to be able to speak to her for the first time in her new role.

I welcome the Bill. It is great. It was a long time coming. Some of it is to rectify Acts that date back to 1977. We are all overly familiar with the sad cases of the Clerys and Debenhams workers, so it is great that we are here today improving things and learning from the mistakes of the past. I thank the staff and Minister for the work they have done on this.

Our economy will look very different in ten years, or even five, driven mainly by the green and digital transitions. Many companies that exist now will not exist in the same form in the near future. We need to think about how we can ensure a clear path to upskilling and reskilling once collective redundancies happen. We need to ensure that as many viable businesses as possible survive these difficult times for businesses.

The Bill is very welcome. We know liquidations happen for many reasons and that they are not necessarily the fault of directors. A review by the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement shows that, in more than 90% of all liquidations, the directors acted honestly and responsibly. These directors are not the problem; it is the remaining 10% that we have to focus on, and the Bill does that.The Bill allows employees to seek redress of up to four weeks’ remuneration from the Workplace Relations Commission if their employer makes them redundant before the 30-day notification period finishes. It is essential that workers are protected from the worst effects of liquidation and this Bill delivers on that. We also need to act preventatively before redundancies actually happen.

We need to help companies to transition as easily as possible to a climate-neutral position. While there is a range of grants, programmes and supports available to help small businesses to go green, there is a lack of co-ordination between them and the agencies providing the supports. Earlier, I arranged to meet the Minister, Deputy Burke, to discuss how to improve matters for our SMEs through the local enterprise offices.

The Minister of State should consider, as the committee recommended, including more categories of workers, such as apprentices, under the protections from collective redundancies provided in the Bill. If we are trying to encourage people to go into the trades and support the green transition, as I and many others do, we must provide them with protections that are equal to those of other workers. I strongly recommend doing so, bearing in mind that we have to rebuild Ireland and build thousands of homes. If we do not protect apprenticeships, that will become more difficult.

The Bill provides for the establishment of the employment law review group on a statutory basis. This is very important. We are lucky to have this group in Ireland. It is unique as it is not in place in other jurisdictions. It is a model we should follow in other parts of the Department, as well as in other Departments, to provide us with expertise we can draw on. I would like the group to have as a major focus the question of how the green and digital transitions will affect law here and where changes are needed to the workforce and employment law. It should research that. Has the work programme for the next two years been discussed yet and, if so, will the House be updated on it? Will the Minister of State take suggestions as regards topical issues that the employment law review group should consider?

This is an important Bill. It amends the Companies Act to enhance access to remedies for creditors in liquidations and to allow workers, as creditors, to have greater access to information regarding liquidation. It also lowers the threshold required by the court to order a related company to contribute to the debts of the company being wound up.

The bottom line is that everything is changing. It is now said that if a business is not climate-resilient, it will not be financially resilient. It has never been more important to ensure we prepare as many businesses as we can for the future by helping them to transition to a digital and climate-resilient future.

I thank the Minister of State for her work on the Bill and wish her the best of luck in her new role.