David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Extreme weather events are very rare. Weather events such as Storm Ophelia and the snow we witnessed recently are not everyday occurrences. They are rare and that is their nature. It is why Met Éireann and the Government, to be fair, take all this seriously. It is the reason we have different categories of warning, with the highest being a status red alert.

The Bill does three simple things. It amends the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 to provide for the safety of employees during extreme weather situations; the Government does not want to support that. It amends the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994 to provide for the protection of public safety and the safety of rescue service personnel during weather warnings; the Government does not want to support that. The Bill also ensures that employees shall be treated by their employers as if at work for the period under warning; the Government does not want to support that either.

We are not talking about essential services or companies that provide essential work. We are not talking about public sector employees that provide front-line services and so on. It covers all non-essential work in the public and private sector. During the most recent extreme weather events, we had the Taoiseach, Met Éireann and a plethora of Ministers rightly telling people in red alert areas not to travel because it was unsafe to do so. With the vast majority of companies that closed, there was no difficulty for employees. When the decision was made to close those companies, employees got paid. The difficulty is that some employers, despite not providing essential services, decided to open and thus placed the lives of their employees at risk. The people who had to make journeys took their lives in their own hands because they wanted to protect their jobs, could not afford to lose pay, etc. Those who stayed at home risked losing a day's pay or having it treated as a holiday. That was very unfair to those workers.

We are trying to provide certainty in legislative terms. The Government is saying that we should trust all employers. As is the case with most employment rights legislation in this State, the idea was that we would work on the basis of a voluntary system whereby if the employer is good, employees would be protected, but if the employer is not good, there is still no real role for the State. Of course, there is a role for the State. We are trying to do something very simple in cases of very rare extreme weather events. What is so objectionable about asking employers to follow this when the Taoiseach, flanked by members of the emergency services, appeared on bulletins at 6 p.m., 9 p.m. and various other times and stated that people should not travel because it was unsafe to do so? He gave the correct message but the same people listening to the message were told by some employers to disregard it and come to work. If they did not go to work, they did not get paid. The Minister of State seems to think that was okay because the Government is not prepared to put a solution in place. We have heard from the Government that it will issue guidelines, which is no good. This must be underpinned by legislation. What is so objectionable to companies providing non-essential services being directed that in these very rare circumstances they should close. This would only happen in the geographical areas where there is a red alert. I cannot see it and the Government will have to answer on that.

I cannot understand why the Government objects to the second part of the Bill either. A small number of people engage in reckless activity during these weather events. We see them surfing, swimming, walking on piers and so on. By doing so, they put their lives at risk. If they get into danger, they also put the lives of members of the emergency services - who are obliged to respond - at risk. There is no criminal sanction for this and it is not an offence at all but it should be. It should be an offence if a person engages in reckless behaviour despite all the advice given out. We see and hear about this and people are incensed when it happens because emergency and front-line services are put at risk. Everybody says it is wrong. The Government now has a chance to take action and at least put some sort of deterrent in place but it will not do that either.

What is it about the Minister of State and this Fine Gael Government that when we bring forward legislation to try to improve the lot of workers and give them certainty, it is rejected? We had discussions about this previously. I brought forward a Bill on if-and-when contracts but apparently it could not work. A couple of months later, when the Government came under pressure, it produced legislation that does not go far enough. Why not accept our Bill? If the Government has difficulties with it, the legislation can be amended and we can be told what are the problems. Rejecting the Bill indicates to employees and workers that the Government really does not care. I should not have to remind the Minister of State that three people lost their lives during Storm Ophelia. One person was from Cork, one was from Louth and one was from my constituency in Waterford. Some of those families have been campaigning for legislation like this as they believe workers should get certainty.

I remember during the snow a number of months ago I received dozens of calls from workers who were very confused and did not know what to do. They had to make decisions that they knew put their lives in danger. One can imagine these people had children, who would have been off school. These people were really upset because they did not know what to do and were under huge pressure from their employers.

I was listening to the Taoiseach giving very clear warnings not to travel and an employer saying to travel. There has been no response from the Government at all. It is "trust the employers". We can trust the vast majority of employers. However, for those who do not do things correctly and who put their employees at risk, it is our job as legislators to make sure we protect workers. The Minister will have to account for his actions. We can only do our best in opposition. When we are lobbied about a problem by people - Teachta Adams and Teachta Munster were lobbied by individuals in Louth as I and others were across the country - we come up with a Bill that attempts to and would fix the problem. That is our job in opposition. The Minister, the Taoiseach and the Government have responsibility, but they have done nothing at all. That is despite these two bad weather situations. I do not even have to use up all of my time. Other people will want to come in.

I am disappointed the Government is not supporting the Bill. I am not sure what is the position of the other party in Government, Fianna Fáil. We will hear that in a few minutes. Other parties have indicated they will support the Bill. I hope the Government will change its mind and support the Bill. The Minister, the Taoiseach and the Government often criticise Sinn Féin in a partisan and negative way for not providing solutions. When we do, as we are doing here, the Government's response is that it will not support it. That is a matter for it.

The trade union movement, including the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU, which represents workers is looking for action. Goodbody Stockbrokers did an analysis of our Bill. It was a positive and constructive analysis. It said the status quo is not good enough and something has to be done. If the Minister is going to reject our Bill, I hope he has come in with some alternative that is better. If he has come in empty handed, then he is failing all of those workers who were failed the last time we had the two extreme weather events.

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