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

Where an employee against whom an attachment order has been made changes employment, the new employer must notify the court. Setting aside for a moment the excessive administrative burden the Government is imposing on employers, imagine the impact of this measure on an employee-employer relationship. In a difficult economic environment, many such relationships are already fraught and difficult because both sides of the employment contract are being pulled in different directions. This will no doubt cause more difficulty for both the employee and employer.

It must be asked whether the Government consulted any employers on this legislation. I rang the Small Firms Association last night and learned my call was the first it had on this matter. It has never been discussed at committee level by the committee of which Deputy Lawlor and I are members. None of the employers has been broached on this issue, as far as I know, yet they now have a new role under the Government’s proposal.

Any Minister who has actually owned and run a micro-business or small business will know this legislative arrangement is not acceptable to employers and their employees. It is intrusive and it will colour the relationship to a detrimental degree.

Landlords have been vocal in their concern over their new role as debt collectors for Irish Water. The Government has admitted recent legislative amendments will allow landlords to evict tenants who fail to pay water charges. Not happy with roping landlords into the deal, the Minister is now roping employers into the same process. The Government has extended the misery to families who cannot pay their electricity, gas or telephone bills, or their TV licence fees. Nowhere in this Bill does the Government state attachment orders are an option of last resort. It may be that any of the organisations will implement this extreme measure from the get-go.

This legislation encourages utility companies and others to apply to the court for an order enabling the attachment of earnings from employers or social welfare payment to enforce a debt between €500 and €4,000. One should juxtapose this measure with the treatment of Denis O'Brien and the other multimillionaires who have not only benefited from debt write-down but who have also, we are led to believe, enjoyed interest rates on debt that are at least a third of the average mortgage holder’s interest rate. Mortgage holders have been treated in the opposite manner. The Government said 1 July would be a deadline for banks to step up to the mark. This deadline has come and gone and the results have been very poor. Many of the banks could be seen to be giving the two fingers to the Minister for Finance. There is no rushed legislation for hard-pressed mortgage holders and no tough action, just mealy words from the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, who has become Margaret Thatcher on steroids.

The Government tells us jobs are its number one priority. It has put paid to that myth here today. This Bill is an attack on employers, just as it is an attack on employees. If this legislation is passed, the Government will be placing an astonishing burden on employers and potentially undermining hundreds of thousands of future workplace relationships. A significantly greater administrative and industrial relations burden will be imposed on small businesses. If a small business is on the edge, it is easy for it to be tipped.

Iarraim ar Teachtaí an Rialtais smaoineamh a dhéanamh ar an méid atá déanta sa Bhille seo. Tá sé soiléir nach bhfuil an Bille léite acu go huile agus go hiomlán, ná na forálacha deacra a bhaineann le fostóirí ann. Tá an Rialtas ag iarraidh go mbeidh ar fostóirí dul isteach i bpócaí na bhfostaithe agus airgead a ghoid uathu. Muna bhfuil siad in ann é sin a dhéanamh nó muna bhfuil siad ag iarraidh sin a dhéanamh, tá an Rialtas breá sásta pionós a ghearradh ar na fostóirí sin. Mar sin, beidh orthu níos mó airgid agus ama a chaitheamh chun a rialacha agus a gcóras a athrú. Beidh orthu dul go dtí na cúirteanna agus na doiciméid a thabhairt leo ann. Beidh i bhfad níos mó oibre le déanamh acu. Chomh maith le sin, má theastaíonn ó fostóir duine a earcú, beidh air dul i mbun an riaracháin a bhaineann leis an fhadhb seo.

Smaoinigh go cúramach ar cad atá á dhéanamh anseo. Ná bí mar caoirigh. Tá a fhios agam go bhfuil taithí maith ag an Teachta Lawlor maidir le caoirigh agus go dtuigeann sé go leanann na caoirigh gach caora eile atá sa pháirc. Más féidir leis, iarraim ar seasamh suas agus seasamh ar son fostóirí agus fostaithe.

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