Mr. Owen Reidy:

There are 2.6 million people at work in the Republic of Ireland today, the highest number ever. Things are obviously good, and that is really welcome. Take out about 300,000 self-employed people, or self-employed people with a question mark in some cases, and take out maybe another 400,000 public servants or just shy of that. We organise about 260,000 to 270,000 of those nearly 400,000 public servants, so the percentage density there is in the 60s to 70s, I would suggest. We organise about 260,000 to 270,000 private sector workers. We are looking at 1.8 million private sector workers, maybe, and we organise about 270,000 of them. I cited in our paper the UCD academic research on the desire for unionisation. What we would like to see, if we transpose the directive properly, is a gradual, incremental increase in density, going from 22% up each five-year term, each action plan, and a gradual, steady increase in coverage. Will we end up with 70% density and 90% coverage and be like Sweden in ten years' time? No, we will not. We are talking about a longer-term process here. Does the trade union movement have the capacity? Going back to the directive, the obligation is on the State to assist the social partners. As I said, the State has been, at best, a bystander and, at worst, a prohibitor. The State has to do a complete 180° shift here and be a promoter of and an advocate for collective bargaining for those workers who want it. We want volunteers, not conscripts. The day of the closed shop is long gone, and that is fine. There are enough people out there who want to be organised right across the political spectrum. People who vote for all parties and none seem to see it as a good thing, and I think there has been a change post Covid. There is a real opportunity here, and I think there is an opportunity to address some of the productivity issues that are of concern to employers. When we look at other member states that do these things better, proper, organised sectoral collective bargaining can address some of those issues and can take things like wages out of competition, which surely can be a good thing in the long term for both sides of the labour market.