James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In the spirit of new politics, let us celebrate all sides of the House having successes today. I recognise Deputy McLoughlin's Bill on fracking, which passed through the House this morning, and which we were delighted to support. It also had all-party support today. I also recognise the Private Members' Bill of the Labour Party being passed this evening.

8 o’clock

It is a good day for new politics. Despite media commentary to the contrary, there has been progress. There was also debate and engagement on all sides of the House to contribute to the passing today of the two legislative measures from different sides of the House. It is very welcome and bears out the fact that new politics can work when all parties lend their weight and support to it. Indeed, it is often not the Members in this Chamber who prevent it from doing so but, perhaps, forces outside the House or the dragging of heels elsewhere can lead to delays.

Deputy Kelly referred to An tUachtarán, Michael D. Higgins. I pay tribute to his work - I take Deputy Alan Kelly's word for it - on the long genesis of this Bill. However, I refer to an earlier Uachtarán, Eamon de Valera, who first enshrined the freedom of association measures in the Constitution. Bunreacht na hÉireann of 1937 was extremely progressive for its time given the changing Europe and world at the time of its enactment. It was far-sighted in many parts, perhaps not so much in the socio-economic area, but rights in the civic, liberal and political sphere, including freedom of association, were importantly enshrined in that document. It provides the framework for the laws we have today which, indeed, to some extent support the passage of this Bill.

The subject matter of the Bill is the self-employed people in the Visitors Gallery and in the industry who have struggled to date because provisions in this Bill were not enacted. The gig economy, as it is often called, has become prevalent, particularly in media circles. There are very few people with fixed-term contracts or any type of permanency in their occupation, so there are many freelance actors and participants in that sector. That is a difficulty in the media sector and it is a concern in many areas. The Bill gives them a degree of flexibility and some degree of collective bargaining. It is very important to provide that. It is also worth noting with regard to the artistic sphere that some European nations, particularly Germany, have a system in place whereby certain artists and contributors of content can become almost salaried by the state after a certain period of time if they serve an apprenticeship, as it were. There is the concept of a state artist or a state journalist or state content creator, provided certain criteria are met. That is progressive and laudable. Perhaps it is something we could consider in this jurisdiction at some stage.

Fianna Fáil is supporting this Bill. We supported it in the Seanad when it was first proposed last year. We also supported a motion in the Dáil in this regard towards the end of last year. Indeed, we have always supported the machinery of industrial and labour relations. From enacting the National Minimum Wage Act to establishing the Workplace Relations Commission and throughout the times of partnership, we have a strong claim to being extremely progressive in that space all along.

I do not wish to be churlish as it is a good day for new politics but I cannot let it pass without acknowledging that while it is welcome that the Labour Party has introduced this Bill and had it passed by the House, I am not sure why, given that previous Deputies were mentioned, the Labour Party was in government for five years and it held the Ministry for labour affairs for those five years, there was no attempt to enact this during that period.

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