Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

I welcome workers from the Rhatigan site, who are in the Visitors Gallery. These workers from the Kishoge community college site in Lucan have endured months of absolute hardship and poverty in all weathers. They have been locked out by their employer and are owed thousands of euro in wages.

We welcome the opportunity to bring this issue to the attention of the Minister for Education and Skills and to raise it in the Chamber. For some reason, J.J. Rhatigan has 50% of all contracts under way from the Department of Education and Skills. The bricklayers who are on strike, many of whom have been on strike since last May, received no pay until July when one of them, Stephen Gleeson, received €5,292 which he thought was his own pay for those months but was informed that it was the total payment for seven bricklayers. That works out at approximately €5 per hour, if the workers were to accept those conditions. That is below the minimum wage. These are skilled workers who must work in all weathers with the toll that takes on their bodies. Essentially, they were then pressured to become self-employed contractors, which is an increasing practice in the building industry. For years, this has been flagged as an issue in Government contracts and private contracts. It has also been flagged to the Department of Education and Skills, the current Minister and the previous Minister. The Construction Workers Alliance, for example, has reported on bogus subcontracting, which would push workers back a century where there would no pensions, benefits or safety net.

Despite many efforts, these workers have not had a full audience with the Minister to discuss this issue. One would imagine the massive loss of State revenue from black market and bogus practices would be of major interest. I do not have time to deal with all of the issues but the key demand of the workers is that funding is withheld from Rhatigan, pending full investigation into bogus subcontracting and possible black economy practices. We ask the Minister to give that commitment to these workers this evening.

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