Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to speak in support of the Industrial Relations (Right to Access) (Amendment) Bill and congratulate our Sinn Féin colleagues, specifically Deputy David Cullinane, on bringing this timely Bill before us. Deputy Cullinane also held an informative briefing recently at which representatives from some of our major unions were present and showed quite clearly the difference this Bill, if passed through these Houses, would make for trade union members. I note this wide level of support across the trade union movement. Those of us who have been shop stewards realise the importance of the Bill for the welfare of workers and indeed of the enterprises and institutions in which they work to ensure industrial relations problems and issues are identified and addressed early on to the satisfaction of everybody, workers and employers alike. It is very disappointing, therefore, that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil will oppose the Bill. It was in this context that I introduced the very first Trade Union Recognition Bill in the Twenty-eighth Dáil, parts of which later became law. That Bill was introduced against the background of a ferocious campaign of intimidation against SIPTU and Irish Air Line Pilots' Association, IALPA, which were representing workers in Ryanair.

The Bill before us is legally sound. It is based on legislation in place in New Zealand and Australia. It works very well in those common law jurisdictions. We know that access to trade union representatives happens on a voluntary basis in many workplaces, but proper, structured access would help to avoid industrial unrest and, as I said, help businesses as well. Voluntary access is just that – voluntary - and can therefore be revoked when any ripples of problems or unrest start. For example, we have seen recently in the case of Tesco, as my colleagues have said, a business that was previously seen as a reasonable employer with a positive relationship with its main trade union, Mandate, but which has now limited trade unions' access to their premises.

I am delighted to commend our Sinn Féin colleagues and to support the Bill.

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