Linda Nelson Murray (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have learned so much this afternoon. I am so glad I am one of the last to speak because a lot of what I was going to ask has been covered. I thank the witnesses for explaining this. I grew up in the 1970s in a town heavily involved in manufacturing furniture. I went in and out of factories, one of which my parents owned, seeing the fabulous women, the sowing machines and the men at the benches with upholstery, and the people manufacturing suites and couches. I remember looking at the cabinet makers. Everything the witnesses spoke about brought me back to all the smells and the noises of that time, such as the staple guns. That then put me in the world of 12-year old kids in mines and women making cheap clothing with buildings crumbling down around them. I am the first woman to speak here today. The witnesses’ words pulled at my heartstrings. What they are saying makes one question why we would not make this happen. It seems like a no-brainer when it comes to human rights.

Flip over to now in 2025, I am a business owner with 25 employees. It is a small business with small turnover. While I may be commenting rather than questioning, I ask the witnesses to bear with me. We deal with so much, between HR, wages, administration, HSE regulations, health and safety regulations, as well as pest control and everything. We cannot afford to be filling out forms. As a result, business owners do it themselves. A lot of businesses are flat structured and cannot hire someone. I have that hat on me. That does not take away from what the witnesses have spoken about on human rights, however. They are vitally important.

Either Mr. Fitzpatrick or Dr. O’Connell said the Irish Government has not outlined its position. When is it too late for that to happen? In the context of the number of businesses affected by the CSDDD, it is approximately 0.05% at that stage. I have learned so much today going through the omnibus, although I have more learning to do. Can Mr. Willoughby tell me how many companies that 0.05% figure implies? Originally, before the dates were set back, we were looking at 5,000 employees initially, with that moving down to 1,000 employees two or three years later. Is that right? It was to go at a step level. When does it get down to the smaller businesses? While I know smaller businesses will be impacted by dealing with the bigger businesses, maybe it might not be too much of a burden if we think we are helping so many different people with regard to our human rights obligations.

Change is hard in any part of life. Change is very hard for small businesses right now in Ireland. We have got so much on our plate between the costs of labour, insurance and energy. It is hard. There is a burden on us but, at the same time, we absolutely want to do the right thing. I am asking when is it too late for Ireland to outline its position in this regard and about the step effect on the number of employees.

No one has spoken, unless I missed it, about the message to the consumers and the people buying the items. While I am not going to name anything, there are delivery trucks around the place delivering stuff all the time. How do we get the message out to people to let everyone know where they are buying from? We are talking about starting with the big, multi-million and billion-euro companies and filtering down. Why not start with the person on the ground who is going into a shop and buying something? Why not inform and educate them as to what they are buying? Can they help the situation and then we can meet in the middle? Those are my comments. I thank the witnesses very much. They are absolutely great.