Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left) | Oireachtas source

There is a certain validity in what the Minister has said. We are dealing with how workers enforce their legal employment rights but it is a legal process that should be accessible. I would be somebody who has often gone into the Labour Court representing people even though I do not have any professional qualifications per se other than what I learned on the shop floor and a certain knowledge. That accessibility needs to be protected.

However, we need to address people promoting themselves as representatives and legal experts, being unregulated, purporting to represent workers' rights and not being able to do so. Sometimes people have been very badly let down by their unions or representatives and have no right to recourse. Perhaps the Minister is saying that this is not the Bill in which that very valid concern can be addressed but I hope that he would recognise that it is a valid concern. Workers certainly have recall over their representative if it is a solicitor but they need to be able to do it with a union representative or somebody posing as a legal expert. That type of regulation needs to be there.

See this speech in context