Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Last week, HMV and the Old Darnley Lodge in Athboy closed. I went out to the Old Darnley Lodge in Athboy and sat in with the workers while they were involved in their sit-in on Thursday and Friday last. I spoke at length to the workers in that situation. They are devastated at what has happened. Holiday pay is owed. Some staff have wages still outstanding and they are not confident about what will happen on redundancy. The management have gone to ground and, disgracefully, have not been in contact with the workers. As we speak, the staff in Athboy are still sitting in.

The Minister mentioned insolvency a while ago. I understand that the company has not paid rent in two years. It has not paid rates. It has not paid water rates. That would indicate that solvency is definitely not involved.

Athboy is a town like many others in middle Ireland that has lost a serious number of jobs over recent years with little or no Government response. It seems that if the Old Darnley Lodge was the Old Darnley bank, the Government would be in like Flynn trying to resolve the situation.

Last year, I introduced legislation that would have expedited the process of where workers find themselves now and have their full rights vindicated. It would also have ensured that one would not need to wait for liquidation to ensure that redundancy was paid and that redundancy would be paid once the company was seen to be insolvent. The Minister and the Government refused that legislation and, as a result, the workers are in that position of sitting in today. If they are sitting in today in search of their rights, how can the Minister of State say that he is protecting their rights?

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