Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the workers and union representatives who are in the Visitors Gallery. The Paris Bakery on Moore Street has closed its doors. This type of event is always a sad occasion. People are out of work and wondering from where the next pay cheque will come or how they will pay the next bill or even put bread on the table. For the workers in the Paris Bakery these concerns have been to the forefront of their minds for over three months. That is how long the employees of Ruth Savill and Yannick Forel have been without wages and working for free, in the hope that ultimately matters would be resolved and they would receive their remuneration.

When the owners of the Paris Bakery decided to lock the doors and lock their workers out it became all too apparent to these mainly young migrant workers that they had a fight on their hands. Staff are owed over €55,000 in unpaid wages. The owners profited from their free work. It is said that the owners also owe approximately €200,000 in unpaid taxes and a PRSI payment as well. One of the owners has a stud farm, which is the type of business that already pays a tiny level of tax. Some of the staff have already been made homeless due to the refusal of the owners to pay wages. Others, having lost everything, were forced to borrow money to leave the country. They are now in debt outside this country due to the bad practice of the owners of the Paris Bakery.

The workers who remain decided that drastic action was necessary and began to occupy the premises of the Paris Bakery to protest against and highlight their mistreatment.

It is bad enough that we demean and mistreat those who cannot find work and exploit young people with JobBridge scams, but the State cannot allow workers in employment to be mistreated so severely. The fundamental premise of an economy is that a fair day's work deserves a fair day's wage, which is exactly what these workers are being denied having given their labour in good faith. What the owners of the Paris Bakery have done should be a criminal offence and they should be liable to be arrested and charged.

The Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, met the workers last night, which I welcome. I ask that the Government do all it can to offer help and support to these workers and bring a resolution to the problem. The State has a responsibility to intervene in such cases of abuse and unjust behaviour by employers and business owners. Owed wages should be paid and workers compensated for the hardship they have had to endure over recent weeks and months. It is not good enough to go off and establish another business while leaving a trail of misery and deprivation behind. We must ensure that people get what is owed to them, whether it is redundancy payment, wages, holiday pay or another benefit. We call ourselves a modern society, but have antiquated laws and need the proper workers' rights the Government promised. When will this happen? We need actions and solutions, not ministerial visits with no follow-up. I call on employers to do the right thing and I call on the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Bruton, to intervene due to the hardships these workers have endured.

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