Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion, although I will not support it and do not agree with most of it. It offers a very selective reading of history, as does the majority of Deputy Joe Higgins's interventions. The motion suggests that the Catholic Church was against the workers in 1913 when since 1891 it had expressly condemned the misery and wretchedness pressing unjustly on the majority of the working class. The church supported the right of labour to form unions, rejected communism and unrestricted capitalism and affirmed the right to private property.

In delivering the keynote address at a conference celebrating the centenary of the 1913 Lock-out last Saturday, President Higgins, who has a huge mandate from the people, stated that it shone a light on Dublin that could never again be denied. The conference reflected on the years from 1912 to 1923, a decade of war and revolution in Ireland.

I support much of what my colleague, Deputy Luke 'Ming' Flanagan, has said about unions and rights. Unions have abandoned the ordinary people. They got cosy with the last Government, IBEC, the IFA and many others, and forgot about the ordinary people. As an employer, I respect workers. I wonder how many more employers are in the House other than the Minister of State at the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Perry. It is a two-way street. I do not agree with some of the shenanigans that are happening. I recently received a letter from a businessman in my own county whose father had been in business for 50 years. He complained about the way some employees submit claims to rights commissioners under employment legislation. The vast majority of employees work diligently to create a living for themselves and support their families and the companies for which they work. Complaints about the working time directive, payment of minimum wages, unfair dismissals and racial discrimination have become a charade. I will not name the individual who takes most of the cases but he is a solicitor on College Green. He threatens people and then he goes to the employers in advance of the court case offering to settle for €7,500.

This is the position in which we have found ourselves. It is outrageous that good employers are being extorted by employees. Claimants can make whatever allegations they wish at the various hearings and the onus is on the employer to prove them wrong. We find ourselves in this sad and despicable position 100 years after the founding of our so-called democracy and the establishment of so-called union rights.

I salute employees and employers but not those who wish to milk the system and try to create havoc by accusing employers of all types of things. These employees leave others to pick up the pieces when gardaí and ordinary people are attacked by Éirígí outside the gates. We need balance because the current situation is appalling.

Small employees are being treated in the same manner as factory workers. While clocking in and out is not a problem if one works in a factory where it is easy to maintain records relating to breaks, hours worked and so forth, this is not an easy task for a haulage company with 50 international, long-haul drivers who all start and finish work at different times and deliver different payloads. It is not simple to have one system covering all types of company. It is compulsory for all articulated lorry drivers to complete certificate of professional competence, CPC, courses annually. These courses are supposed to educate drivers on all aspects of the haulage industry. My constituent, in his letter, states that his company has been asked at Labour Court hearings to demonstrate that a driver was told to take a break after four and a half hours and was informed when his break was over. The company has also been asked if it has informed drivers that they must receive 24 hours' notice of routes. It is not possible to do this in business.

The Labour Court thinks nothing of handing out compensation awards of up to €10,000, some of them to people who may have been in employment in this country for only six months.

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