Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

It is an absolute outrage that working men - it could be women in other circumstances - are forced to come to this House of Parliament, this Dáil, to ask the Government to implement its own writ in regard to how publicly-funded construction contracts, such as schools, hospitals and so on, should be managed to ensure that workers' rights and tax compliance are fully above board. What we have heard about the abuse of these workers is quite incredible. What is even more incredible are these practices of forcing construction workers, such as bricklayers and so on, to become bogus subcontractors, which they do not want to become. They want to be honest workers getting their pay, paying PAYE and their pension contributions. The system that operates means they are being forced, on pain of the sack, to essentially go into the realm of the black economy. That has been brought to the attention of the Minister's predecessor and very concrete details have been given but nothing of substance has been done to stop this. That is not good enough and it must stop, beginning this evening.

This is a grotesque abuse of workers, who must take strike action to protect the most basic rights. They have families, children and grandchildren and they have mortgages and rents to pay. They are skilled workers who over the past few months have, from dawn to dusk, been forced to be on the picket line and not on the building site earning for themselves sand their families. It is quite incredible that this should be allowed to go on.

A Minister departed this House forcibly in recent times because he did not listen to whistleblowers who were telling the truth. The Minister should beware of that. I want her to give a commitment to stop these payments to Rhatigan until a round-table meeting as well as a full investigation take place and these issues are sorted out.

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