Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her commitment to address this further. The purpose of the amendment was to generate some debate on it given that we are recovering overpayments from social welfare recipients. The last time I proposed such an amendment, it was to last year's Social Welfare and Pensions Bill. Employers need to pay some money back to the Department rather than the worker who is unfairly dismissed paying it back. There are additional consequences, which should be borne in mind when a judgment is being made. As the Minister outlined, it is probably a lot more complicated. I was aware of some of the consequences but I will have to look at the others again. It would be a useful exercise for the committee to look at this.

In regard to the point Deputy Joan Collins raised, this is probably not the best place to deal with the issue of the Greyhound workers. I was there yesterday morning when the truck hit one of the workers. We need to look at employment legislation as advice given to the workers yesterday was that they should go immediately to the Department of Social Protection office to sign on because they had presented for work but were not allowed to work. That is a big burden on the Department of Social Protection which should not be imposed straightaway. Given the nature of labour laws and the way companies are seeking injunctions and are increasingly locking out workers, it needs to be addressed so that there is a quicker mechanism which prevents people being locked out of or refused entry to their workplace.

I hope the situation in Greyhound is resolved and I have heard the worker who was injured by the truck is out of hospital, but he was severely injured. There are question marks over the waste management system in the city of Dublin. I have asked colleagues to look at how it can be regulated rather than having trucks chasing each other in the middle of the night.

The whole issue of agency workers needs to be looked at. I saw with my own eyes what Deputy Joan Collins said happened. It was an absolute disgrace. If the authorities had been on the spot, they could have checked whether these people were qualified to drive the trucks and whether proper health and safety measures were in place. Recently, there was an incident where somebody slipped into the back of a waste management truck. That will happen if this situation continues to be allowed because these people do not know how to operate the trucks with which they are working.

I will withdraw the amendment on the basis of the indication from the Minister that she will get her officials and officials from the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to look at the implications and come back with legislation in the future.

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