Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)

I congratulate Sinn Féin on the motion before the House. In Government the natural instinct is to defend against any suggestion. It is ridiculous that both Government parties claim responsibility for all good things in life. The Progressive Democrats and Fianna Fáil both suggest our achievements are due to their respective Ministers. This is ludicrous and not the behaviour one expects of adults.

This debate should be more broadly based. Assigning responsibility for labour to one department is the beginning of the debate and we should then discuss how we develop and treat people working to sustain this economy. Approximately 2 million people are employed in this country and some 600,000 are members of trade unions. The latter are mainly in the public sector, working for Government agencies. It is estimated that 200,000 private sector workers are members of trade unions. How is the workforce of more than one million unorganised workers protected? They have very little protection.

Sinn Féin Deputies referred to fundamental rights of workers. Despite the development of certain rights over the years, there are no fundamental rights. Concerning women, the former Minister, Michael O'Leary, was the pioneer in insisting on equal pay and rights for women. A former Fianna Fáil Minister, Pádraig Flynn, introduced the directive on part-time workers which fundamentally affected women.

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