Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)

I raise the issue of the rights and entitlements of the La Senza workers. I ask the Minister about the treatment of the workers and the way the issue has been dealt with by their employers. The employees got virtually no notice that they are about to be made unemployed. Some people were phoned and told not to turn up for work the next morning. The Liffey Valley workers turned up for work on Monday and were told to help the removal men who were there to pack up the store's contents. They were not given any written notice that they were being made redundant. There was no attempt to engage them, as there should have been under the terms of the redundancy. An issue arises out of that. People have no documentation and they have not been paid their wages for the month of January, including overtime and Sunday payments, but they are not able to sign on and get social protection.

How can a company get away with this? It knew this was coming down the line. It might not have told its employees, but there were reports of the company going into administration at the end of December on the BBC. The company gave the workers the impression that they would be told what was happening, that they would be given notice and so on. It got them to come in and work long hours. The workers came in and worked in good faith, but they got no pay for that work. As a result, the company has made huge profits over the past month. It has taken that money out of the country, while stating that it will not pay redundancy for the workers and that the State will have to pick up the tab. What is being done about that?

The parent company, Lion Capital, is hugely profitable and has large amounts of money at its disposal. Other stores in the La Senza chain have been sold off and will continue to trade, so this should be examined.

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