Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I compliment Deputy Cullinane on bringing forward the Banded Hours Contract Bill and thank the Members who did great work in both committees to develop the proposals set out in the Bill. I commend, in particular, the committee chaired by Deputy Mary Butler, which put a great deal of effort into enhancing the legislation. All that work has brought us to a place many of us thought we would not be, namely, on the cusp of finding a solution for workers who are in the difficult situation outlined by other speakers. That is a tremendous achievement in the space of a year or thereabouts. As Deputy Mick Barry noted, the Government has indicated an intention to bring forward its own Bill. None of us wants to be too cynical but it seems fairly clear to all concerned that this is really about blocking the proposals that are there and holding back their progress. It is a very disappointing approach from a Government that is telling us it wants to do the right thing and move forward on these issues.

The intent behind the Bill is to tackle the casualisation of work and the culture of short termism that has developed in modern western society in such a big way. Everything business does is about looking at how much profit can be made in the next quarter and the quarter after that. This short termism acts to the detriment of the lifelong work people do. People do not live their lives in quarters but over the 40 years they work or the 100 years they hope to live. That is how we should be setting out our society and everything we do. I knew a man who has since died who worked for one of the large national hardware chains. He told me how he travelled from his home in Carrigallen in County Leitrim to the job in Longford, where he would work for maybe four hours before being sent home again. The next day he might be in work for eight hours, but he never knew from one week to the next what hours he would get. He was a seasoned worker who was not looking for a mortgage or anything like that, but even at that stage in his life it was an unsatisfactory arrangement. The idea behind it, as this man described it to me, was so that the management, which was messing everybody about in the same way, would have no commitment to their staff and could, therefore, let people go whenever they wanted. That is what they did to him eventually.

We need to consider how we can turn these types of situations around for the benefit of workers. It will require a solution that is firm and which will actually work for the people affected. Adam Smith, that great proponent of the capitalist system, was of the view that government had a role to play in economic matters, which involved being a firm hand to ensure there was balance and a level playing field between employers and workers. He observed that when two merchants came together for the most casual conversation, the talk would invariably turn within minutes to how they might fix the market for themselves. The Government, as representative of the people, was obliged to step in and offer some degree of protection. This was the view of one of the chief proponents of capitalism.

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