Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)

The message at the moment, which everyone in the sector seems to be taking up, is that the JLC system is going to be substantially dismantled, that the Fine Gael view will prevail and that the Government's Bill will be a fig-leaf to keep the Labour Party on board - not a very difficult task, by all accounts - by giving the illusion that there is still some measure of protection in addition to the legislation we introduced, which is not enough, because if it were enough, we would have dismantled the JLCs a long time ago. Workers in those categories need the protection of EROs and REAs in addition to, not substituted by, the legislation that is already there. We will be abandoning the most vulnerable people in this country working in the private sector unless we send out a signal by accepting this Bill and allowing it to proceed to Committee Stage.

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