Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

The issues of workers' rights raised in the Sinn Féin motion are vital and I agree with all the rights put forward that should belong to the workers. I do not object to the proposed Department of labour affairs standing alone. The main problem at the moment is not the lack of such a Department but that for nine years we have had a Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats Government, a right wing Government consciously pushing a neo-liberal agenda with serious repercussions for workers' rights, particularly an attempt to shove down workers' wages and conditions.

Sweden, Britain and Ireland did not embrace EU expansion out of generosity but because workers from eastern Europe could be brought in and utilised as an agent to force down the level of wages, particularly in construction and some other industries. I was amused by the Government amendment to the motion which refers to measures taken to achieve compliance by "a minority of employers who fail to fulfil their statutory responsibility towards workers", as if non-compliance was a minor problem. What about the 130,000 construction workers who, according to an estimate of the Pensions Ombudsman, who is no revolutionary socialist for sure, have been left non-compliant, bereft and negligent of a pension by the actions of the construction bosses by whom they are employed?

The Pensions Ombudsman added that this was a criminal offence punishable by jail and-or fines. Three building workers from a Collen building site are in jail tonight because they were pushing for certain rights and a certain measure of justice for local workers in the area. Dozens of gardaí have been employed on Collen picket sites to push non-union labour through the picket and the protest.

This company employs sub-contractors who blatantly defy pensions legislation and the pension rights of workers. Has a single garda interviewed one of these sub-contractors? What are the chances of these sub-contractors, engaged in a criminal action, rubbing shoulders with the three lads in Mountjoy before this week is out? The chances are not very high. This is the level of hypocrisy we face in this Government.

In regard to Gama Construction, the labour inspectors conducted a thorough investigation. The Government was obliged, as a result of public pressure, to facilitate the struggle for justice. Incredibly, the High Court shielded Gama by suppressing the inspectors' report. I have not seen the report but I believe it would have told the workers' story. How ironic that their lordships in the Four Courts protected the exploiter. Where would the Gama workers be today if they depended on their lordships for such protection. Workers must rely on their own strength and their trade union organisations, yet we must push——

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