Ms Julia Marciniak:

It has to be said loud and clear that Ireland has some of the worst union rights of any country in the EU. Obviously, that needs to change. Workers are afraid and they see unions as ineffective because we are effectively disabled by this legislation, which is very harmful to the union movement and renders us incapable of acting in an effective way. It is long overdue that this be changed. Workers are scared. Daily and from week to week, they do not have any savings in case they lose their job. I lost my job because of my union membership and activity. What kind of example is that for workers to follow if they are afraid and have no savings? We have to start making union rights more robust in order that we can defend the vulnerable in the sector.