Mr. John King:

Deputy Joan Collins asked whether we had done anything industrially in the way of protest. It is fair to say that we have. We have balloted for both industrial action and strike action. These motions were carried overwhelmingly. We reserve the right to take such action if all else fails. We have had a couple of protest campaigns and we intend to keep them going. We have been seeking a meeting with the Minister for the past 18 months. The first time we sent the Minister formal correspondence was in February or March 2020. We have not been given a direct meeting with the Minister. We have had an engagement with the Department, which has been referred to. Had we had a meeting with the Minister, we would have been able to explore the policy element, that is, this issue around the legal advice and so on. However, when we talk to Department officials, we are told the policy decision has already been made. We are trying to influence that policy to try to make it look as good as possible.

As to whether we have sought our own legal advice, we have not yet done so. That is one of the reasons we want to see the legal advice being relied upon. That would give us an opportunity to focus any advice we might seek.

Senator Wall asked about the issue of social benefit. We have put that loudly and clearly to the Department officials and in various correspondence with the Minister. We believe that some of the European legislation on procurement allows for states to be flexible when considering social policy initiatives, developments and so on. The timeframe has been paused as we look at this and we believe that there could be scope to arrive at an amicable solution that delivers for the State but also for the employees, the existing providers and, most importantly, those who will require local employment services and jobs clubs in the future. We appreciate Deputy Flanagan indicating that he would bring the issues raised in this most important meeting to the attention of the Minister.