Eoghan Kenny (Cork North-Central, Labour)

Every Christmas, every Easter and every summer, they have to sign on to social welfare. For two weeks or perhaps a month at Christmas - I do not know how long -there is a break. They are expected to sign on or to try to get another role. I am sure that will be the answer. They are free to get another role, but we also expect them to come back on the day the Oireachtas is sitting. The difficulty there is there is probably no opportunity for them to take up a role in that space of two or three weeks or whatever the break is. We know ourselves, calling a spade and spade, that they are going to have to sign on to social welfare. We have talked extensively in the Oireachtas now about the role of secretaries and caretakers, for example, across the country and them not being civil servants and not having access to Civil Service status. It is quite a similar situation. The difficulty, having met all of them, is how we could possibly stand over the treatment they are receiving from the Oireachtas. I genuinely do not think we could. I, and I am sure the majority of people across here, do not agree with having people working within our Oireachtas and the difficulty they of having to sign on for social welfare payments during each recess. Surely our ambition should be to employ people in broadcasting services using our assets, as was said, to give them Civil Service status, as opposed to giving the contract to an organisation like Pi Communications whose only expenditure, for every cent it makes, is wages. That is the only expenditure it has. That is the difficulty I have. The lack of respect in particular shown to these workers has been quite disgraceful, to be totally honest. I have great sympathy for them and I do not think we are going in any way, shape or form in the correct direction in respecting workers' rights. It should be coming directly from the Oireachtas. That is where the starting point should be and it is not happening.