Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

This Irish Ferries debacle is a disgrace. It is a disgrace that the company is displacing hard working, committed and long-standing workers simply to make an even greater profit than that which it already makes. It is a disgrace that the company has torn up last year's agreement with SIPTU and the Irish Seamen's Union and thrown out the Labour Court decision of 14 November, which states that there is no compelling case for it to seek to break that agreement.

The actions of the company last week in putting on board the ships stormtroopers from a company specialising in global terrorism to enforce a new regime on Irish workers were disgraceful. To deploy such overtly military personnel, who may well have been armed, is a disgrace. The treatment of agency workers who are currently on board the MV Normandy and those who will be on other ships in the future is a disgrace. However, the biggest disgrace is the inaction of the Government. What does the Taoiseach say? He says he can do nothing. He throws up his hands as if he were an unemployed person walking up O'Connell Street in the afternoon. Somebody should tap him on the shoulder and say, "Bertie, you are Taoiseach of this bloody State. You are the guy in charge. How can you do nothing about it?" Of course, we know the answer. The Taoiseach does not have the will to do anything about it.

This matter is not just about Irish Ferries. It is about the type of society and standards we want. As a senior trade unionist put it at a recent meeting, we need a threshold of decency. That threshold should ensure that poor people will get proper services and proper terms and conditions of employment. Irrespective of what Ministers say, the buck stops with the Taoiseach but he is not doing anything about this matter.

Irish Ferries has effectively declared war on the rights and conditions workers have gained over many years. If the company is allowed to proceed in this way, the floodgates will open. Some Ministers say that this issue is peculiar to Irish Ferries. That is not the case and everybody on both sides of the House knows it. They are only trying to put up a smokescreen to gain time. They should not be allowed to get away with it.

Displaced workers and their replacements, namely, migrant workers, who are subject to low rates of pay and exploitative working conditions, are now a feature of how the labour force in this State is to operate. It is time to say that enough is enough. I hope there will be a mass mobilisation in support of the day of action on 9 December. I hope people come out and make it clear to the Government and everybody involved that inaction is not good enough. The wink and nod attitude to the management to proceed with this action is unacceptable. I ask people to begin preparing for that day of mobilisation.

The true face of the neoliberal agenda being pursued by the current Government was laid bare on the "Questions and Answers" programme on RTE last night by the economist, Dan McLoughlin. He said what the Government thinks but will not say.

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