Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

The Minister, Deputy Ross, has come a long way from when he was on this side of the House ranting and raving. Some people were fooled by the label "Independent" in that they actually thought that he was independent. This is a wish fulfilment for the Minister. According to Michael O'Leary, the Minister is playing a blinder. However, he has an ideological opposition to public services and trade unions, as has the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Varadkar.

Last Friday, workers across the three companies showed solidarity with each other. My response to the people who ask why this was not announced in advance is that years of anti-union laws have made such solidarity illegal - the kind of solidarity on which unions were founded in the first instance and were forged by people like Connolly, Larkin and those who fought in 1913 in this city. Solidarity action across the three companies will be essential to win this dispute. I applaud the workers for respecting and knowing that. We must now fight this industrial relations act in order to bring back workers' power in this country.

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