Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish the new Minister and her Minister of State, Deputy Breen, all the best in their new roles. In his absence, I wish Deputy Howlin the best in his new role as leader of the Labour Party.

Fianna Fáil supports the Labour Party's Private Members' motion on workers' rights. In the recent general election, my party put forward a strong suite of measures to increase job security for low-paid workers. We support fair and decent living wages for all workers. Bringing clarity to hours of work is as essential to creating decent jobs as increasing the rate workers are paid and helping vulnerable families who are reliant on welfare. Workers in precarious zero-hour contract positions face uncertainty every week as to the hours they are required to do and this leads to a lack of security in terms of how much they are actually going to earn. On a broader level, low pay and casual working arrangements prevent people from getting mortgages, entering rental agreements and being able to make financial commitments. Sadly, these people are being denied the opportunity to climb the labour market ladder further due to the lack of more secure jobs. Further impediments to securing decent jobs remain. The European Commission has correctly identified the high cost of child care and the loss of secondary benefits such as medical cards and rent supplement as significant barriers to employment in this country.

Tackling job insecurity is an essential part of our commitment in Fianna Fáil to creating decent jobs and decent pay. Parties like Sinn Féin, however, prefer to preach on issues than to act and put narrow party political interests ahead of affecting real change when the opportunity presents. In the recent post-election discussions, Sinn Féin walked off the pitch and went to ground for narrow political expediency. My party chose not to absolve ourselves from collective responsibility in acting in the national interest. I note that in part of the Sinn Féin amendment to the Labour Party motion, the party seeks, true to its tactic of revisionism, to paint Fianna Fáil into the blame zone for what happened to the Clerys workers. However, yet again, when one looks up the road to the North of Ireland, one sees a similar high-profile case involving Austins in Derry. There were no utterances from Sinn Féin in the North of Ireland on that high-profile closure which involved asset stripping. In the North of Ireland, where the party is in government, Sinn Féin failed to get legislation banning zero-hour contracts through.

In the recent framework for a confidence and supply arrangement to facilitate a minority Government, a policy commitment was reached to tackle the problems caused by the increased casualisation of work which prevents workers from saving or gaining job security. As the lead Opposition party, we will be ensuring this commitment is kept firmly on the political agenda and that proposals are forthcoming. Fianna Fáil supports a ban on zero-hour type contract arrangements by changing the remit of the Low Pay Commission to put forward legislation on banded-hour contracts for those on low pay. This will allow workers on low and zero-hour contracts a minimum set of hours and the right to request more hours as practised in larger retailers. We also support clamping down on exploitative bogus self-employment contracts. These contracts, which are becoming increasingly prevalent, circumvent basic employee rights to holiday pay, sick pay and pension contributions and deprive the State of PRSI and tax revenue. The issue of bogus self-employment could be rectified without legislation because people declare themselves voluntarily with the Revenue Commissioners to be deemed as self-employed. There is a basic principle of whether what is involved is a contract of service or a contract for services. It seems from those I talk to in Revenue that it is a matter of resources in terms of policing and overseeing how these declarations work. This issue is having an impact in the construction sector in particular, which is growing hugely, as well as in other areas, including the red meat trade and the forestry sector.

Fianna Fáil has always protected citizens who are on low pay. We introduced the National Minimum Wage Act in 2000 which gave all employees a legal statutory entitlement to a minimum wage. The Act increased the minimum wage by 37.1% from 2000 to 2011 while Fianna Fáil was in power, which rate was greater than the rise in inflation in the period at 29.7%. While we then cut it, which was a mistake, the important nuance some of our Labour Party colleagues have failed to acknowledge was that it was cut for new entrants only. That is a significant point, although the cut itself was a mistake, which I acknowledge. Fianna Fáil welcomed the establishment of a Low Pay Commission to examine and make recommendations each year to the Minister on the national minimum wage. We suggested and welcomed its most recent recommendation to increase the minimum wage. It allowed a careful balance against causing any adverse effect on job creation. The State should ensure low-income workers automatically feel the benefit by an increase in their disposable income. It can do this by ensuring PRSI and tax contributions from low-paid workers are fairer. Employers in industries where profitability is improving should recognise the sacrifices that employees have made and look to increase their take-home pay, starting with those on the minimum wage, while enabling more jobs to be created. Politics should be taken out of the issue and the commission allowed to carry out its evidence-based work in its independent role. The commission must be sufficiently resourced to perform this function.

Much mention has been made of a living wage. Establishing a living wage is an important measure in ensuring works pays at all levels. It is important to note that the €11.50 figure was not just plucked out of the sky. I took a personal view on it and signed the ICTU pledge on a living wage of €11.50. However, I note that significant research was done to arrive at that figure. A basket of more than 2,500 items was looked at as part of the research and they were not just looked at in Dublin. A regional view was taken. It was a well-researched figure and not one that was simply plucked out of the sky. An adequate living wage, which has been estimated at €11.50 per hour, is vital to attracting more people into the workforce. As the largest employer in the country, the Government should act as a role model in this regard. That would set a broader standard without placing an undue legislative burden upon employers struggling to keep costs down. Fianna Fáil did some research in this regard and 12 out of 15 Departments responded to our requests for information on the cost of implementing the living wage. It was indicated that the total cost for all staff directly employed across these Departments would be approximately €11.5 million. The Labour Party has been very vocal in projecting itself politically to driving forward the living wage campaign. However, it is interesting to note that four Departments led by senior Labour Party Ministers in the previous Government did not pay all directly employed staff the living wage.

For many young people starting out in life, trying to get a foothold on the career ladder is increasingly difficult. We know it ourselves as they come into our clinics every day of every week. The failed JobBridge scheme has been unfairly exploited by certain employers while unpaid internships have exploded beyond short work experience to form a major part of the employment market for young people. Any successor scheme must be fit for purpose and give participants a clear pathway to securing decent work experience and learning the skills to enable them to progress up the career ladder.

Mention has been made of the Clerys workers who are in the Visitors Gallery. Their plight is an appalling indictment of the actions of one particular group of vulture capitalists. It also highlights a significant gap in provisions when it is possible for a company's assets to be split in a way that puts them beyond the reach of creditors in a liquidation. Staff at the iconic Dublin department store were summarily dismissed by the new owners last June and only received statutory redundancy payments. To add insult to injury, the State was left to pick up the tab for the redundancies, as the new owners effectively shirked any responsibility to the staff.

It is vital that all existing employment and company law provisions be fully implemented to avoid a Clerys-type liquidation and that further changes be examined to address any legislative gap so as to prevent a recurrence. The findings of the Kevin Duffy and Nessa Cahill report and the Company Law Review Group's examination of these matters, once completed, must be carefully examined by the Oireachtas. It is imperative that the legal framework in place be fit to deal with such situations.

The industrial relations machinery of the State has stood the test of time. Under a Fianna Fáil-led Government, under changes made to the Industrial Relations Act 25 years ago, the Labour Relations Commission, LRC, was established. This conciliation body provides a professional industrial relations service for employees and employers, as well as having an industrial relations advisory, development and research services role.

Sinn Féin is playing politics once more in its antics with this Private Members' motion. It is interesting that, after the Provisionals waging a violent campaign for 30 years that resulted in the deaths of members of the Garda, Sinn Féin is now pitching for headlines with its amendment to permit members of the force to strike. I speak to many gardaí and none of them has ever told me that he or she wants to have the option to strike. Citizens are indebted to gardaí for their courageous and heroic acts in putting themselves in the line of fire while policing communities daily and keeping us safe from harm. Industrial action by gardaí would endanger the stability and order of the country. There is a mutual obligation between gardaí and the Government to uphold the peace at all times. The Government must treat gardaí more specially than other groups in recognition of their role and the burdens they bear without the right to take industrial action. Fianna Fáil believes associate membership of ICTU should be extended to the Garda representative bodies to enhance their negotiating position on conditions and pay. Gardaí should be allowed to join and take an active part in negotiations.

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