Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the people in the Visitors Gallery and especially the members of trade unions. As a proud member of SIPTU, I welcome members of SIPTU, Irish Actors Equity, the Musicians' Union of Ireland and the National Union of Journalists. They have done a great job running a concerted campaign alongside progressive politicians over many years to build their case for justice. It is great that there has been consensus on this important issue. It is a good day for the Dáil when we can all agree and acknowledge that the issue must be tackled.

The Bill rights a wrong that has continued for some time. It will allow trade unions once again to organise and negotiate collectively on behalf of individuals who enter into or work under contracts personal to them or who provide any work or service. It will also allow for collective negotiation and bargaining on the terms and conditions of a scheme whereby services are provided to the public by members of a trade, profession or vocation and paid for out of public funds. For up to 15 years people have been severely disadvantaged owing to the ruling under competition legislation. The ruling was particularly significant. Esther Lynch of the European Trade Union Confederation wrote that the authority's decision effectively turned the clock back almost 200 years to the era of the Combination Acts, which made it unlawful for workers to join together to press their employer for shorter hours or more pay. The legislation had quite devastating consequences for workers across these sectors.

The Arts Council investigated standards of living in this area a number of years ago. It found that just two in five professional artists spend all their time working as artists because they do not have enough income. One third of them often or always worked more than 55 hours per week. In other words, they had to do extra jobs to supplement their income. The figures from 2008 are still shocking. The average income of a professional artist in 2008 was just under €15,000, with half of the artists earning €8,000 or less. In many cases, we are talking about poverty wages. This legislation, therefore, is long overdue.

It is important to give credit where it is due. I give credit to Senator Ivana Bacik not just for the quality of the legislation, but also for the way in which co-operation with the trade union movement and cross-party consensus were built. It is a step in the right direction for the many freelance journalists, musicians and actors who have suffered since their right to be represented by a union in collective bargaining was removed from them over ten years ago. The Bill has received cross-party support in both the Dáil and the Seanad. I attended the meeting of the jobs committee last week at which we quickly passed the Bill. We appreciate how important it is to have it passed.

In conclusion, I welcome the Final Stage of the Bill. I again offer my appreciation to those who worked to achieve this.

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