Michael McNamara (Clare, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for the opportunity to speak on this Private Members' motion which, I believe, is a shameless attempt to hijack the 100th anniversary of the 1913 Lock-out to promote a range of agenda as colourful and meaningless as the Technical Group collective. The 1913 Lock-out has an honourable place in Irish history and the terrible events of that tumultuous period undoubtedly influenced and shaped the Ireland that evolved in the subsequent years and up to today. When I think of that period I think of people like Paddy Hogan, a Labour Party Deputy from County Clare who was involved in the initial set-up of trade unionism in Clare at the beginning of the 20th century.

As a young man he joined the Gaelic League and the Irish Volunteers and was involved in the 1913 strike. He was arrested and jailed before being deported to England. Returning home, Paddy Hogan fought for union recognition in Clare and continued to fight for union recognition throughout his life, particularly at Shannon Airport following its establishment. He was a major contributor to theIrish Worker Unionpublication in 1913 and was acknowledged as a major strategist for the union in the republication of the magazine earlier this year.

When the Ennis United Labourers Union was brought into the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union, ITGWU, in 1919 Paddy Hogan demonstrated his leadership and pragmatism. He favoured rights of workers over the ego of the individual and he favoured amalgamation with larger unions. He continued to support trade union amalgamation throughout his life. That is not something that would be supported by the proponents of tonight's motion who would instead prefer to see the splintering of the trade union movement, the weakening of congress and with it the weakening of workers' ability across this State to bargain their labour against powerful economic forces. Those economic forces are stronger now even than they were 100 years ago due to the globalised world in which all nations, with the possible exception of North Korea, must operate. While I appreciate that the ideological purity of North Korea, if not the downright misery of the place, might appeal to Deputy Higgins it is not a state that we in the Labour Party would like to see replicated here.

See this speech in context