Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We often hear from the Government benches that all we on this side of the House are interested in is critique, giving out and populism, yet when we create solutions to problems or potential problems they are completely ignored, as was the case when I introduced legislation to pierce the corporate veil in this Chamber, which, in large part, would have resolved the experience of the Clerys workers. In these amendments we seek a particular solution. The Minister of State is saying he is against it but he will not prevent it. Effectively, he is saying that he will not legislate for it until somebody has suffered - until somebody has lost their job, is unable to provide for their family and has been exploited. The Minister of State's logic is that he needs a number of people to be exploited before he will act. He said he would not act in a piecemeal fashion but he has not said that tomorrow, the next day, this term or the next term he will produce comprehensive legislation on blacklisting which will prevent it in the future. My concern is that the Minister of State is saying one thing but doing nothing about it. All we will have in the future is tea and sympathy, but I suggest that we should not have a Minister for tea and sympathy; rather, we should have a Minister who makes sure that such things do not happen. In the Clerys case, the Minister said he was going to look those employers in the eye and speak to them about their moral obligations. The fact of the matter is that anybody in the State could have looked them in the eye or spoken about their moral obligations, but the only person who can legislate is the Minister, and that is his responsibility.

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