Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)

The rights of workers are under attack like never before. There are employers who will not waste a recession and who are using the current situation to drive down wages and to mistreat their workers. Vita Cortex, Lagan Brick and Wilson Publishing abandoned agreed redundancy arrangements. How is that adequate protection? I applaud the workers at Vita Cortex. It took them only 139 days of occupation to obtain whatever settlement it is they have achieved. I commend them on their efforts. Where was the adequate protection for those to whom I refer? The Vita Cortex workers should not have been obliged to occupy the company's premises. There has been a complete failure on the part of the Government in respect of this matter. The workers at Lagan Brick have been on strike since 15 December. These people were given one hour's notice of the closure of their place of employment. Where was the adequate protection for them? Wilson Publishing completely ignored the Labour Court's recommendations in respect of redundancy payments. Where was the adequate protection in this regard? I have met with most of these workers who have given 30 to 40 years of service to companies and have now been forced into industrial action. This Bill was brought forward in a constructive and positive way. We wanted to work with the Government to close loopholes which allow unscrupulous employers to ride roughshod over the rights of workers.

I asked the Minister, Deputy Bruton, to intervene in my constituency on behalf of workers in Diageo and other companies but he refused to intervene. Irish Cement workers there are having their rights trampled upon. Vodafone last year outsourced 130 jobs to India and Egypt. When I asked the Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, the Minister, Deputy Bruton, and the Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock, to intervene, they failed to do so. In recent weeks, Vodafone announced plans to move over 300 jobs from Vodafone call centres in Dublin and Dundalk to Newry. No allowances are available for employees who simply cannot move with their job to Newry. Accordingly, they will not be entitled to any redundancy payments despite years of service with the company. Where is the adequate protection about which the Minister of State spoke? Vodafone is the leading supplier of mobile telephone and data services to Departments, receiving its own adequate protection of over €7.25 million in charges over the past five years, almost €1.5 million per year. These contracts should include clauses for conditions on jobs retention. Vodafone also used to be Eircell, a highly profitable State company.

This morning, I, along with other Oireachtas Members, met with workers from Irish Cement. The company has completely ignored a Labour Court recommendation that it must pay between €5,500 and €9,500 in sums owed to workers. Irish Cement is part of the CRH group, one of the world's largest building materials companies. Its chief executive, Myles Lee, received a cash bonus last year of over €500,000 which made his remuneration total €2.6 million in 2011.

I want to give way to my esteemed colleague, Deputy Ó Caoláin, who gets tetchy when I run into his time. However, I must say it is disgraceful that the Minister of State claimed there is adequate protection for workers. There is not. All the main parties, including Fine Gael and the Labour Party, were represented at today's meeting and all Members present expressed support for the Irish Cement workers. If they were serious, then they would be supporting this Bill tonight. Incidentally, I asked the Minister, Deputy Bruton, to intervene in that dispute as well but he failed to do so.

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