Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Over the past number of years there have been a number of incidents, Clerys being one, and now there is Tesco. There are issues with Bus Éireann, Hastings Garage and elsewhere where workers and their rights are being trampled on and they are being treated as a commodity, even though they are the foundation of every business. Deputy Brendan Ryan asked a number of questions and called on the Government to proceed with the Duffy-Cahill report. The report was commissioned in light of what happened at Clerys and the Dáil said "Never again" but the report which might stop it from happening again has not been acted on. The Government needs to work on that urgently.

We also need movement on zero hours and the Labour Court process needs to send out a message that workers are important. They are people and not some sort of commodity. The biggest catastrophe to happen to Tesco in recent years happened because of the activities of management in the UK, not because of the workers in Ireland who work night and day to support their families and the company. We should stand up for them because, by standing up for them, we stand up for every worker in this Republic.

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