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

I acknowledge the interaction between the Department of Social Protection and the workers. I can only imagine how utterly depressing it has been notwithstanding the Tánaiste's efforts for these workers. As she said, many of them have very long service. In truth many of them feel they will not be returning to work and the damage is done. It seems that we cannot in any way recover the lost ground for these workers. They are left with what amounts to the bare minimum. These workers have been placed in a most degrading position. As legislators, we cannot miss the depth of anger and the sense of degradation and disrespect these workers quite correctly feel.

Having acknowledged the efforts and interaction of the Department of Social Protection, I cannot help but be left with the sense that in respect of the bigger picture, the Government is again kicking the can down the road. Albeit that Clerys is different in its specifics, we have been down this road before and not in the dim and distant past. We have seen Waterford Crystal, Vita Cortex, and La Senza. There is a long list of scenarios in which rogue employers very cynically trod all over their workforce. We know the law needs to change.

We need to hear from the Government on when that legislative change will be made to ensure the sense of degradation being experienced by the former Clerys workers will not be visited on any other worker in the future.

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