Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I endorse everything my colleague Senator Sherlock said. Given that we have waited so long for the Bill, this is a missed opportunity. It has been years in the making. There is a lack of ambition or perhaps an ideological objection. Ultimately, this comes down to whether the Government believes trade unions are good and should be valued and whether collective agreements should be valued. Sinn Féin is very clear on this in that it believes trade unions make a very positive contribution to society. Statistics show that where societies have more collective bargaining, they are better and more egalitarian and have better services. Trade unions and civil society actors always bring a positive approach to building a better society. However, when it comes to the crunch, the Department is not prepared to recognise that. That is a great pity. Collective redundancy agreements are good and worthy of being protected. The lesson of all the tragedies I mentioned, including those of Debenhams, Clerys, Paris Bakery and TalkTalk, is that we must ensure workers are protected and that their agreements are protected. Ultimately, this Bill will not do that, which means we will be back here again having a conversation about another set of workers who have been defrauded. That is an opportunity lost. We and the Government should do better.