Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to flag one further matter. Throughout the State there seems to be abuse of sub-contracting regulations, which is manifest in Lucan on the JJ Rhatigan site. A number of workers who are members of Unite have been on strike for the past five or six weeks. They have experienced their wages being reduced to approximately €5 an hour, which is below the minimum wage. We talk about a living wage being €11.45 an hour, but there are people who are not achieving the minimum wage owing to loopholes in laws governing sub-contracting work. I urge the Minister of State to get on the telephone and speak to both sides in an effort to use his office to resolve the crisis. I ask him to ensure this problem does not occur throughout society in general. The strike is happening on a State-contracted project, with the State being the customer.

I ask the Minister of State to focus on the important issue of insolvency which results in many workers being forced to undertake a protracted sit-in or battle with businesses in that limbo space of insolvency where a business is not officially insolvent but the workers are not being paid. The situation in this grey area leads to significant poverty because the people concerned cannot apply for entitlements and to avail of safety nets which they should be entitled to do.

I suggest these are two very practical projects in which the Minister of State could become involved and which would result in real benefits for those hoping to earn a decent wage.