Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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I would be interested to know what those figures are because I believe there are people who could reasonably work from home who do not want to go to work. I get a sense that the figure might be a bit larger than the Tánaiste thinks but I too would be interested to know those figures if they are attainable from the WRC.

I turn to the issue of public money and the need for that to be spent on businesses that adhere to the protection of workers' rights and their terms and conditions. I have said repeatedly that workers' rights cannot be bought because, eventually, the price will get too high and we should not get into that kind of trade-off. Some companies, however, are in receipt of significant sums from the State through the grant schemes such as the temporary wage subsidy scheme, TWSS, and the employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS. One such company is a large cleaning company called Noonan's. I am aware there is a dispute not too far from Leinster House regarding outsourced services. Staff were outsourced in 2019, Noonan's took over and they have now been told they have to accept lesser terms and conditions than those that were red-circled for them. These companies are in receipt of significant amounts of State money.

I am giving this as an example and am not asking the Tánaiste to comment on an individual case, but is compliance measured? There is not much that workers can call on in terms of legislative protection, unfortunately, but the transfer of undertakings should protect those workers. The facility I mentioned, however, is not protecting them, yet this company and several others like it are in receipt of large amounts of grant money, and justifiably so because their business has been hit. They are not respecting the rights of those workers who continue to work. Does the Department have a budget to monitor that compliance and to ensure that workers' rights are being protected where the State is spending and advancing significant sums?