Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

Does the Minister not agree his austerity policy of slashing wages and increasing taxes for workers is hitting the retail trade and is a contributory factor to the crisis in the sector? The Minister says it is not viable for State intervention to save significant numbers of jobs but in the past period, the State allowed Waterford Glass and Irish Glass Bottle to close.

These were two instances where not only could significant numbers of jobs have been saved but other strategic interests could have been accrued.

Finally, I put it to the Minister that the legislation about which he boasts is feeble in the extreme as long as workers, some of whom might have decades of service, can be told at an hour's notice or less that their jobs are gone, the company is gone, they will not get redundancy payments and they can be left chasing their wages. What will the Minister do so that in the next period this type of disgraceful behaviour towards workers by employers cannot be repeated?

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