Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

As the representative of the Green Party I commend Sinn Féin on tabling this motion which the Green Party fully supports.

I am interested to hear the views from the other side of the House. The motion proposes that rights should be protected. The other proposal in the motion is most prescient and well thought out. It proposes the separation of the employment brief from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. There is a case to be made that a conflict of interest exists between the ambitions, effort and intention of the enterprise side of the Department and that of the employment side of the Department which should champion those rights. This conflict would be resolved by the separation of the employment section into a separate Department.

This could be termed a reshuffle which is a frightening word for the Government benches to hear. The Minister of State, Deputy Killeen, may laugh but the people behind him were crying all last week.

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