Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I know the Minister is aware of this issue because I have been in contact with the shop steward in the Congress centre and she said contact had been made with him. On 16 April, 42 workers and two supervisors at the Dublin 12 job initiative scheme received termination notices and were quite shocked at the way in which the situation was handled. Very little information is trickling down to workers on why this is happening and to where the situation can move. There were three meetings of the workers and they asked that the representatives, presenting a united front, approach the Minister seeking a new host to employ the 42 workers and two supervisors to keep the work in the Dublin 12 area. It is a question of whether the Minister can assist these workers in finding a host organisation to keep them doing the good work they do in the area. They know there is a sponsor in Canal Job Initiative Limited.

If that is the case, they would like to hear from the Minister whether she sees the Dublin 12 Congress Centre going into that initiative or whether there is a role for them that will let them remain in the Dublin 12 area to do the work where they have been doing it in the past 12 years.

One thing which relates more to the future than to this issue is the shadow employer and their long-term contracts and future pension rights. However, the immediate issue is as I have described it and the workers would welcome a positive response from the Minister today.

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