Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important Bill. First, I extend greetings and solidarity to the workers in Vita Cortex and La Senza and all of the other employees who have had to fight tooth and nail, after years of dedicated labour, just for their redundancy entitlements. I also sympathise with the families and friends of the trawlermen on the Tit' Bonhomme, which sank off the coast of Cork last Sunday morning. They are in our thoughts today.

For most people, and for all of those covered by this Bill, the purpose of work is to provide for one's self and one's loved ones. It is about earning at least enough to have a reasonable existence, with the ability to pay for clothes, food, heat, accommodation, transport and other essentials, hopefully with something left over at the weekend for the odd luxury. An important part of any real debate on the effect of legislation that affects the pay of low-paid workers is an appreciation, understanding and acknowledgement of the fundamental importance of this employment framework to the quality of life of those under its protection.

One wonders how the Minister, his special advisers or his departmental officials, who have for many years earned many multiples of what is earned by people covered by JLCs, can relate to the lives of those for whom they are legislating. However, that raises another question. For whom are we legislating here? Is it the workers who have been caught in a vacuum because of the recent judgment, or has this been, as many might agree, an opportunity to safeguard further and enshrine the role of the employer?

On publishing the Bill, the Minister talked about trying to "strike a balance between protecting vulnerable workers and providing reforms that would make systems more competitive and more flexible to allow for the creation of jobs in these sectors". This is despite the fact that his Government's report on the subject, the Duffy Walsh report, stated that "lowering the basic JLC rates to the level of the minimum wage rate is unlikely to have a substantial effect on employment". My colleague, Deputy Peadar Tóibín, outlined Sinn Féin's position on the Bill yesterday. Unless there are necessary changes, in particular on the issue of the Sunday premium but also in terms of the balance between the rights of the employee versus the rights of the employer, we will be unable to accept the Bill in its current form.

It is impossible to ignore the fact that all of this movement on the rights of low paid workers - I acknowledge that the High Court judgment forced the issue and commend the Minister's prompt action to address it - is happening at a time when high paid workers, including Ministers and ministerial staff and others in the public and private sector, remain relatively unaffected. The word "relatively" and the relative impact of cuts are very important; they are fundamental to the ideological debate that underpins the Government's thinking and its approach to the economy. So it is that the Sunday premium can be scrapped while, at the same time, it is fine to proceed with the payment of many billions of euro to unguaranteed unsecured bondholders, private speculators and gamblers. They, like the Government's idea to sell off billions of euro worth of valuable State assets, are sacrosanct.

This does not add up for the workers who will be affected by this Bill. How, on one hand, can one target their Sunday payment and, on the other, leave those who took this country to the brink of ruin untouched? It is simply not fair or right. Weekend work is the only work many workers have and all of them factor the Sunday premium into the household budget to ensure they are in a position to provide for themselves and their families. The relative difference between taking that Sunday premium out of their pockets and taking it out of the pockets of the well-off is simply enormous.

Almost a year ago people voted for leadership and change, and for a move away from cliques and vested interests. It appears the old ways of politics were contagious, and this Government is finding it hard to find a cure. Go raibh maith agat.

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