Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

Today, Irish Ferries has stated, arrogantly, that it intends to push ahead and sack 543 unionised workers, replace them with exploited labour from the Baltic states and ignore the recommendations of the Labour Court, which is not exactly a revolutionary body. Callously, two employers' organisations, IBEC and the Irish Exporters Association, are today backing the use of semi-bonded labour by Irish Ferries. This points to a growing pack of corporate wolves who believe workers are not entitled to a decent job, a decent wage and decent working conditions with health and safety safeguards as they pursue their super-profits. The Taoiseach denounced Irish Ferries in this House and said it should not do what it is doing. Does he feel humiliated that the company has responded to him with a rude gesture? Or is it the reality that behind the scenes, the Government is showing no commitment to fight what Irish Ferries is doing? He refused to bring in legislation to outlaw this exploitation. Last year, the Government paid Irish Ferries €1.13 million to crew the MV Normandy with similarly exploited labour. The Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources arrogantly threatened to turn An Post over to cheap labour employers when the postal workers dared to stand up for justice. A few years ago, the Tánaiste roamed the Middle East inviting big businesses with cheap labour practices to come here. Has the Taoiseach any shred of credibility in the face of this relentless campaign to drive down wages and workers' conditions? If Irish Ferries is allowed to sack these workers, then every grasping boss in the State will feel he has carte blanche to sack permanent workers and to replace them with cheap, vulnerable, exploited migrant labour.

Will the Taoiseach bring in emergency legislation to outlaw Irish Ferries from introducing semi-bonded labour on it routes? Will he accept its sackings as legal redundancies and have the taxpayers subsidise the scam? What precisely does he intend to do? Can he be very clear in his response?

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