Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

While some sort of hesitancy on the part of the Government to act persists, there will be a Gama or a son of Gama case. All the National Employment Rights Authority, NERA, which was established as a response to the Gama case at the time, will be able to do is to implement the basics of labour law. Consequently, far greater urgency is required in this regard. I listened to how the Minister, Deputy Coveney's speech suggested the Government has brought so much to the table but it has not. It is quite extraordinary for a Labour Party in government that its members have disengaged themselves from the entire area of employee rights and are satisfied to sign up to the line that this or that was done. I acknowledge the minimum wage was restored and that its reduction by the previous Government was a mistake. The restoration was carried out and Fianna Fáil welcomes that. However, one must also consider the other things the Government and the Labour Party in particular have not done. In this context, I note several ex-SIPTU officials in its parliamentary party have gone very quiet in the whole area of pushing for ongoing reform of labour law.

The reforms in respect of the employee rights bodies are to be welcomed but again, they are dragging on. A far greater sense of urgency in delivery is required in this regard. The single form is particularly to be welcomed because the confusion as to where one went to pursue one's rights was not helpful and again created a vacuum in which people could be abused. People were sent in many different directions to look for their rights in the hope that if one delayed and confused them within the apparatus of the State, they might not get those rights. I reiterate the single form and one-shop approach is welcome. Equally, however, something similar must be done in the case of small businesses. They must understand, through a single form or one shop, what are their responsibilities as employers, because the majority of labour law violations or NERA violations pertain to the mishandling of a situation, not for purpose but because of a genuine misreading or misunderstanding of the law. I refer in particular to the role of the Minister of State, Deputy Perry, in the rolling out of the local enterprise offices, LEOs, and the one-stop shops. This should be a specific part of that roll-out and people within the LEOs should be trained up in this area. There is no sense in having generalists doing this job, as people who understand labour law both from the point of view of the employee and employer are required. The LEOs will be judged on their ability to assist employers in dealing with this whole area. Ireland has a huge corpus of labour law. It is being undermined by court decisions and is being fought and various court decisions have resulted in the strengthening of some law and the ignorance of others. However, one cannot take it for granted. Employers, particularly large multinational employers, are changing and in recent weeks in various debates, Members have seen what that means. Consequently, one must continue to be aggressive in the protection of workers. However, propagating an idea that all employers are in the spirit of William Martin Murphy is patently wrong and is unfair to the majority of people who are pursuing a dream and employing others. Moreover, enforcing legislation that will restrict the ability of people to create employment and to create jobs also is wrong because there is no sense in having absolutely armour-plated employee protection legislation, while not having any employees.

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