Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)

Deputy Hogan and everybody else raised the issue of Irish Ferries and the new challenges faced by this country and the economy concerning the devaluation of jobs. I will deal with this issue in more detail when I address the points raised by Deputy Quinn which are very specific.

Deputy Hogan and others also raised the question of the loyalty of the workers of Irish Ferries. It appears that despite all the concerns the company appears to continue to enjoy the support of many of the exporters and others who use its services such as Irish people and tourists, which is somewhat strange, in my view. He also raised the issue of the Comerama workers and the difficulties relating to their redundancy payments. Deputy Quinn and others including myself have attended meetings on this issue. The workers understood they had been given an undertaking about the enhanced redundancy. A number of difficulties arose. Approximately six months elapsed between the closure of Comerama and the introduction of the increased rates of statutory redundancy. During that time a considerable number of other workers, in excess of 12,000, became redundant. It would have been impossible to introduce the enhanced rates for the Comerama workers and not make them available to the other workers whose redundancy occurred during that interim period. By extension, this also raised issues to do with other workers who had been made redundant at previous stages during interim periods and it became impossible to deal with it. To ring-fence a specific scheme for Comerama workers became impossible even though many of us would have wished it were different. I know the disappointment of the Members from Carlow-Kilkenny and others feel about similar situations.

Deputy Hogan raised a number of issues about Greencore, some relating to the outcome for workers and others relating to the outcome for growers in both Carlow and Mallow. Members will be aware of the difficulties which arose over a long period of time, from 26 April of last year when the issue was first adjudicated on by the Labour Court. Subsequent clarifications did not advance matters very far since management were not moving from a particular interpretation. Fortunately some progress has been made in recent days and both sides returned to the Labour Court on 19 February for additional talks. I understand that the original difference between the two sides which would have amounted to approximately €4.4 million has been somewhat divided and is slightly higher than the half-way stage in terms of the workers' perception of what they needed. I understand a resolution may be on the way.

I am unsure of what implications are feared by Deputy Hogan for the Carlow workers as I understand their situation had been resolved previously but I will return to the Deputy if I have any new information. He also raised the important question of the migration of work. It is imperative we protect Irish jobs and those of others who have worked in our economy. He referred to high profile job losses in the context of global rationalisation over which a small open economy such as this has little influence. Such an economy has great difficulty in setting terms which it can stand over.

The redundancy figures for 2006 amount to approximately 24,500 which is similar to the previous year and lower than two years prior. Despite the publicity surrounding job losses the out turn for the first two months of this year are 2% higher than last year which is similar to 2005 and lower than the two previous years. There does not seem to be a pattern of much higher levels of redundancy and this is against a background of job creation rates of 85,000 last year and economic growth of approximately 6% last year which is very positive. Nevertheless I take the Deputy's point that there are new challenges with regard to competitiveness and to cost base, which we sometimes place as the only factor when, as Deputy Quinn stated, there are many other factors such as productivity and the other advantages enjoyed by people who have the benefit of an Irish workforce. Because we hear all the negative stories, we tend to forget that there are very positive elements regarding the input of Irish workers, which is all the more reason we in this House should be willing to put legislative change in place to defend those workers and their rights.

Deputy Quinn asked a number of questions about Irish Ferries and also referred to the negative effects of globalisation. He asked specific questions about the redundancy fund which paid some €4.5 million to Irish Ferries. I can assure Deputy Quinn that the Minister, Deputy Martin and I considered the legal advice very carefully. We considered many options including those referred to by the Deputy, some of which in political terms would have been a lot more attractive than paying. However, on the basis of the existing legislative position and the legal advice regarding it, there did not appear to be any justification to let the matter go to the court or to refer it onwards to the Employment Appeals Tribunal which in certain circumstances might have been an option. Having carefully considered the information supplied by Irish Ferries and additional information which was sought from it and the legislative framework, there really was no option but to pay the rebate on the basis of the current legislation. This is one of the reasons that this piece of legislation is even more vital.

Deputy Quinn and a number of other speakers referred to the social partners and their positive role in many areas of life. He harboured some doubts about their capacity to write legislation. The Deputy will be less than pleased when he sees some of the amendments I propose to introduce because they reflect more closely the terms of the Towards 2016 partnership agreement. Both sides of the partnership have made strong representations to the effect that what we have done in the legislation does not mirror exactly what was agreed in the agreement.

The function of the Houses of the Oireachtas is to enact legislation. I am aware that some of our colleagues — neither the Acting Chairman nor Deputy Quinn is among them — are strongly of the view that only people elected to the Houses of Parliament should have a direct involvement in the drafting of legislation or an influence on such legislation. I have come to appreciate that the social partnership model has achieved a number of things. It has enhanced the model of democracy that operates in this country and ensured the inclusion of many who would otherwise have been excluded from the process. While I sometimes vehemently disagree with some of the proposals made by one side or the other — sometimes both — it is a particular advantage to our democratic system that ideas are fed through from the social partners. Ultimately, however, it is the responsibility of the Dáil and the Upper House to ensure we have good legislation. If social partnership were diminishing the powers of the Houses in that regard, we would have reason to be concerned and the matter would have to be addressed.

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