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

I cannot think of another legislative measure on which the Government would respond with such a wishy-washy answer, saying that the legislation it drafted may or may not deal with the situation. Usually, the Government responds in a very robust fashion and over-eggs the strength of a legislative measure to do what it says it will do. However, in this case, involving legislation that is only in place for a year and for which the Minister is responsible, the Minister says it must be tested, and while the Government talks about the testing of this legislation, men and women throughout the country are getting turfed out of jobs. By the time we finish this so-called testing, I guarantee that another company will be in a similar situation.

The Minister of State said in his report that section 224 of the Companies Act provides, in a general fashion, for matters to which directors must have regard in the performance of their functions. He went on to say that this fiduciary duty is enforceable in the same way as any other duty of a director in a company. The reality is that multiple companies are set up, with assets being placed in one and the employment of staff in another. I am aware of a firm in Meath which did the same thing. It went to the Labour Court and secured a reduction in the wages of company B, the company without the assets. It was allowed to do that. This is happening daily and it should have been tested previously. Will the Minister use the time he has left in Government not by talking about a wishy-washy legislative measure but by inserting a cast-iron guarantee that this will not happen to workers in future?

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