Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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That brings me to another question. Ms Breathnach said the implications of being deemed insolvent under this provision are ring-fenced from any other implication. I imagine, unless there is an aggravated end to a business, that employees of a sole trader might not want to put their hand up to say their employer should be deemed insolvent. They would fear phraseology like that, which has pretty considerable implications for the reputation of the person with whom they had been working. How does the Department intend to prevent a lot of, what they call, the chilling factor?

If this is something to be used – and it should be used in cases where people, perhaps, are missing their rights - absolute assurance needs to be given that there will be no knock-on effect in other realms. Words like "deemed insolvent" sound, in essence, quite aggressive in their presentation. Should we be using words similar to “a wind-up situation” or “applying for a recognition of a wind-up situation”? I refer to the whole issue of insolvency in the eyes of other people, although people's attitudes are changing. We are not like America where one failure deems someone fortified for the next success. We have not quite risen to that positive attitude yet. I am worried that a lot of workers will end up not receiving this payment because they will not want to rock the boat, as they see it.