Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

They cannot plan with any certainty their level of income from one week to the next. They are only one example of working people living in poverty. This is not by any means unique to Dunnes Stores; we are all aware of that. The Tánaiste urges the Dunnes Stores management and the proprietor to engage with the industrial relations machinery. The Tánaiste refers back to the 1996 agreement. At this stage, those responsible in Dunnes Stores have made it very clear that they are not minded to engage with those structures. Frankly, they do not give a curse about any agreement that they may have previously signed up to.

I put to the Tánaiste that it is not sufficient for her to urge Dunnes Stores or any other enterprise or concern, on the basis of goodwill, to engage with the system. It is now abundantly clear that we need legislation to end the opt-out that Dunnes Stores currently enjoys. We need the legislation before the House. The Tánaiste has been in government for four years. The Labour Party has now been in government for four years and it is still long-fingering this legislation.

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