Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I do not know if it will be news to the Tánaiste that the Taoiseach is so lukewarm on the issue of legislating for collective bargaining rights. He has repeatedly referred to this issue as the European dimension of trade union activity. This is not about anything on mainland Europe but about the fact that workers in this jurisdiction do not enjoy collective bargaining rights as a legal entitlement. There is a clear commitment in the programme for Government to remedy this and the Tánaiste is on record recently as citing it as a must do item for the Government. He has at least given the impression that there is a sense of urgency attaching to the matter. I am very alarmed, therefore, to hear the Taoiseach's rather insipid response to the question I put to him. He is in government almost three years and it is a matter of some concern that he has not met the trade union leadership as representatives of the working people of the State,a bout whom he has a lot to say. Today he stated ESB employees were in touch with him recently. Why would they not have been? I would be shocked if they had not been. However, it is more shocking that he has had no connection or meeting with the ESB group of unions. That is the area in which he should be having conversations. It is good that he meets IBEC and the Small Firms Association. Unlike others, I do not have an issue with this. However, there is a big deficit when it comes to the unions. This raises a fundamental question about the Taoiseach's stewardship. He has not made it his business to meet representatives of the unions. I ask him to remedy this and ensure he meets them.

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