Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)

I will begin by commenting on the breaking news in respect of the dispute at Vita Cortex, a dispute which should never have been allowed to happen in the first place. This Government and previous Governments, through their failure to legislate for the protection of workers, forced a situation where workers had no choice but to occupy a factory for 139 days to secure the ex gratia payment they were promised. This situation clearly shows the current legislation is inadequate, leaving workers, including those with decades of experience and loyalty to the same company, to fend for themselves and the political establishment unable to intervene to resolve the situation. Even those politicians who wished to assist could not do anything other than offer words of encouragement and moral support. This victory is a victory for the workers and nobody else, nor should anybody else seek to claim it. There is an onus on the Government to ensure it never happens again. The bottom line is that unless adequate legislation is introduced, that cannot be guaranteed.

I listened with interest to the debate last night and in particular to the contributions of the Minister of State, Deputy Sean Sherlock, and his Labour Party colleagues. What struck me was the inconsistency in that party's approach to this issue and its response to the Sinn Féin Bill. The Minister of State put forward the view that the 60 and 90 day periods proposed in the Bill would be "unrealistic" and "inconsistent with the flexibility needed by companies to make decisions on restructuring and change". Only last September, however, as Deputy Mary Lou McDonald observed, a Labour Party Private Members' Bill, which followed the announcement of job losses at TalkTalk, sought to address this very issue. Several Labour Party Members made contributions in the course of that debate which were in direct contradiction with the statements made in this House last night by the Minister of State and other members of his party. For example, the leader of the party in the Seanad, Senator Ivana Bacik, stated:

First, we propose that greater protections be put in place by this Government to assist employees in any company, including TalkTalk, who face collective redundancy situations. In particular ... we propose that existing legislation be reviewed in order to provide for a longer notice period than 30 days, especially in cases where a large company is proposing to make collective redundancies. We are conscious that an extension of the 30-day period could be made within the terms of the EU directive.

Senator Marie Moloney, a former SIPTU official, observed that many people have encountered difficulties when they tried to claim redundancy payments and entitlements and went on to indicate her support for a 60 day notice period.

For too long the Labour Party has thrown the accusation at Sinn Féin that there are inconsistencies in our position on certain issues in this jurisdiction in comparison with our position on the same issues in the North. That is to ignore the fiscal realities of partition. Moreover, it is ironic that the Labour Party should see fit to preach to my party when it is unable to agree a position between its members who sit in two Chambers a few hundred feet apart from each other. We are not suggesting that what we propose is perfect and will resolve everything, but it is a beginning. If the Government is not willing to accept it, the challenge is for it to bring forward legislation that will adequately protect workers. It is not good enough simply to vote down our proposal and then sit on one's hands, issuing platitudes to workers who are involved in sit-ins and are fighting for their entitlements. It takes more than that to protect workers' rights. It takes legislation and if the Government is not happy with this Bill, it should bring forward its own Bill and we can debate that. Regardless of who brings in the legislation, the priority is to ensure workers are protected.

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