Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Ó Broin's assessment of the approach that has been taken in the Bill is spot-on. I and the Labour Party support his amendments. We did not have the opportunity to table any amendments in this area ourselves but we may table some on Report Stage. I want to notify the committee of that. I am particularly interested in whether the Minister of State believes there should be a form of statutory entitlement for the Irish Congress of Trade Unions to be represented on the board, for the reasons Deputy O'Callaghan pointed out. It is Ireland's largest civil society organisation North and South and is organised on a 32-county basis. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions is very active, especially in the last few years, on the question of housing and the right to housing. I know from my own work over the years, including legislative and representational work, and my involvement with the trade union movement, that nobody is more skilled at identifying issues than those who actually work in the sector professionally, such as skilled craftspeople, general operatives and others. There is genuinely a function here for that expertise in the first instance. Given how significant housing is to our society more broadly and the construction sector more generally, there is also a function here for the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. I hope the Minister of State will concede that. We can assume he will not support the amendment but I would be interested in a clarification as to where he stands on that idea of an entitlement for the Irish Congress of Trade Unions to be represented, for all the reasons we have pointed out.