Eamonn Maloney (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to debate this motion. We should spend more time debating these kinds of social issues, which principally affect those on low pay or with no job. I commend Sinn Féin for tabling the motion for that reason. Those of us with lifelong involvement in the labour movement welcome support on these issues irrespective of whether it comes from Sinn Féin, Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil. Some of the contributions by Sinn Féin Members were very good, although other contributions were not particularly pretty. I remind those who spoke negatively about the Labour Party and the labour movement of Sinn Féin's opposition to the 1913 Lockout. The party's founder, Arthur Griffith, told Jim Larkin that it was an unfortunate distraction. James Connolly drew attention to the special relationship that existed between William Martin Murphy and Arthur Griffith. However, we are 100 years away from those events and the labour movement welcomes solidarity from every political party.

This is an important issue. All but the most conservative of Members will welcome the establishment of a commission on low pay. I thank the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and the Minister of State at the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Nash, for ensuring that the commission will deliver findings in a timely manner. We will receive a report of its findings before we break for the summer. That is important to us, and even more important to those on low pay, including families who are struggling. These are the issues Members who have an affinity with those on low pay should be trying to progress. People should be able to expect a living wage. The curse of zero hour contracts simply should not be tolerated. I look forward to support from every Member of this House on any proposals to protect low paid workers and abolish zero hour contracts.

We are dealing with a legacy in this regard. People may speak about the good things that happened during the Celtic tiger but many bad things also happened during that period, one of which was cheap labour. Unfortunately, the new Irish ended up working in menial jobs without access to trade unions and they were paid awful wages. It is our responsibility as legislators to deal with that legacy. I look forward to studying the findings of University of Limerick's investigation of zero hour contracts and of the Low Pay Commission.

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