Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)

Sometimes this House is a farce. I sit here as a humble TD, listening to the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and Ministers asking for constructive proposals from the Opposition. We have had a string of companies leaving workers high and dry, pursuing cases and often having to occupy the premises where they worked to secure justice. Here we have constructive proposals; we do not claim they are perfect or all encompassing but they are a contribution. I have looked through them and for the life of me I cannot see why there is any difficulty here. A 60 day period in which the Employment Appeals Tribunal or Labour Court must decide or be accountable to the Minister; a review period every 30 days; a 60 day period after determination is made during which payment should be forthcoming to workers and, finally, lengthening the period of redundancy notification to reflect the size of the company. Those are sensible and reasonable suggestions but they will be voted down. Is it any wonder the public regard this place as a farce? Every time the Opposition tries to provide some solutions, it gets swatted down.

The most topical issue recently was the Private Members' motion that Sinn Féin tabled that asked the Government not to introduce the legislation for the European Stability Mechanism before the House until after the referendum. That motion was voted down but now the Government has done exactly as we asked. At times I scratch my head.

I wish to talk about why my colleague, Deputy Tóibín, has brought this Bill before the House. I am a Buncrana man from Donegal and in my small community there are two clear examples of why this is necessary.

Clubman Omega was an Irish-owned textile manufacturer, a shirt factory that employed dedicated workers, in some cases for decades. They agreed to work fewer hours and take pay cuts. They did everything they could to sustain that company; they could not have been more loyal. Eventually they were let go with statutory redundancy. Those women picketed Clubman Omega in a county that at the time was renowned not for radical politics or pickets but for its conservatism. Those women ended up setting a record for a strike in Donegal. In pouring rain, hail and snow they were outside the factory to protest. It was inspirational but sadly in the end they did not get what they were entitled to.

Recently, we saw the same story in Seatem-owned ticket company Keith Prowse, which was based on the outskirts of Buncrana and which closed, leaving more than 100 workers who had given loyal service without a job. There were numerous companies - Seatem (UK), Seatem (Donegal) and Seatem (Ireland) - and they closed down operations in Buncrana, leaving people high and dry, most of them women. They have now had to wait a year and a half just to get their statutory entitlements sorted out. They were not even issued with P45s. The company started to refuse to take phone calls after a couple of weeks. I was Mayor of Buncrana when this happened and I contacted the Minister about this. We pulled all of the agencies together and in fairness some of those agencies performed well but the Government and the system failed those workers badly. Some of them have still not received their entitlements.

That is the human reality in a small town like Buncrana and it is replicated throughout the State. I appeal to the Government to restore some faith among the public. When it gets constructive, solution-oriented proposals, it could respond positively, do the right thing and back this Bill.

We had a Labour Party TD bizarrely talking about the 1913 Lock Out and how Arthur Griffith of Sinn Féin did not stand by the workers. That is why his grandfather said he should never vote for Sinn Féin. God almighty, they talk about Civil War politics.

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