Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach as an deis a thabhairt dom labhairt ar an mBille seo. This Bill deals mainly with An Garda Síochána. I do not know whether the Minister of State is aware that Deputy Cullinane and I introduced a Bill in this House in April 2017 that would have allowed members of the Defence Forces and An Garda Síochána to be classified as workers in legislation and thereby give them the option of forming trade unions. The purpose of the Bill in question, the Trade Union (Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces) Bill 2017, was to allow the representative associations of An Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces to reconstitute themselves as trade unions if they wished. This would have given gardaí and members of the Defence Forces full access to the industrial relations mechanisms of the State while making it illegal, for reasons of public safety and national security, for them to have engaged in strike action. Our Bill recognised the different contexts in which the Garda and the Defence Forces operate and the differing needs of the two organisations. We believe workers in both organisations should be allowed to join trade unions to enable day-to-day employment and industrial issues to be dealt with and to be able to avail of certain actions and mechanisms. We introduced our Bill on foot of rulings by the European Court of Human Rights and the Council of Europe, the increase in industrial action within An Garda Síochána and the continued negative treatment by the State of members of the Defence Forces in terms of pay and conditions. I will return to the latter issue later.

The State's continued ban on trade unions within An Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces is in violation of international agreements. It also violates the fundamental rights of people employed in these sectors. The Bill that has been introduced by the Minister of State has a similar, albeit considerably more limited, aim. It seeks to amend the Industrial Relations Act 1990 to allow members of An Garda Síochána and their representative associations to access the State's industrial relations mechanisms, namely, the Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Court. I acknowledge that this is a step forward. Gardaí have waited for far too long to be allowed to access the industrial mechanisms of the State. Internal disputes have escalated because no forum has been available to address conflicts at an early stage. Although this legislation is long overdue and is welcome, it falls far short of what was intended when the international courts found in a certain number of cases that police forces, soldiers and defence forces in Ireland and other countries should be able to access the full trade union mechanisms. Sinn Féin believes that members of An Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces should also be allowed to join trade unions if they wish.

Members of the Defence Forces should also be allowed to access the WRC and Labour Court in the same way as the Minister of State has indicated gardaí will under this Bill. Will he clarify whether there is a particular reason members of the Defence Forces are specifically excluded under the Bill? The indication given to me in my discussions with the Minister of State with responsibility for defence, Deputy Kehoe, was that accommodating their demands was being considered. Obviously, he failed to contact the Minister of State, Deputy Breen, or at least failed to persuade him, given that the legislation before us does not deal with that issue.

We only need think back to last month, 19 September, when several thousand men, women and, in particular, families attended the "Respect and Loyalty" protest outside the gates of Leinster House. The Wives & Partners of the Defence Forces, WPDF, organised that march. Central to it was retired Sergeant Major Noel O'Callaghan. Anyone who met the retired members outside would not need to be persuaded of their loyalty to the State or their pride in the duties they undertook over the years in the Defence Forces. What the people outside were asking for was simple, namely, to be respected, to have their work respected to change the conditions under which they lived and for someone somewhere to take cognisance of the fact that some of those in the Defence Forces were sleeping in cars and were asked to do duties in the Phoenix Park when the Pope visited in the same month. They get no overtime because it does not exist for them, yet the other arm of the State that was there to protect the dignitary in the Phoenix Park could get overtime. Members of the Defence Forces are expected to sleep in bivouacs and eat canned food all while doing a good job, which they do with pride, yet members of the Garda rightly get the overtime and recognition they deserve.

In many other circumstances down the years, the terms and, in particular, conditions in the Defence Forces have not reached the standard of a modern army or air force. I debated some of these conditions with the Minister of State, Deputy Kehoe, at a committee meeting today. Nowhere else in the Irish workforce would people be expected to put up with poisoning by chemicals as happened in Casement Aerodrome. Nowhere else in the Irish workforce would people have to comply with taking medication that has been deemed by other defence forces to be virtually poisonous as in the case of thousands who have travelled to sub-Saharan Africa to carry out UN duties, a task they have done with pride for years, only to come home with totally changed lives. Any other workers would be allowed to join a trade union, advocate and protest such conditions, but those who are in the Defence Forces are expected to put up with it or get out, as some have been told. That they can like it or lump it and suffer the consequences because they joined the Army and, therefore, there was an entitlement to make them suffer. That seems to be the attitude in some ways. When making a change like the one outlined in this Bill, I see no reason for the Defence Forces not to be extended the same protections afforded to members of the Garda.

In her recent budget announcement, the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Humphreys, allocated an additional €1 million to the WRC and the Labour Court. Despite not having the extra €1 billion that the Government found down the back of the chair two days before the budget, Sinn Féin was able to allocate even more than the Minister's amount in our pre-budget submission. We suggested that €1.4 million would help to alleviate some of the delays at the WRC and Labour Court. We have expressed our concern at those delays. While €1.4 million might not have helped enough people, our information is that, in July of this year, there were 3,140 complaints waiting to be heard in the WRC, with almost half of those waiting for 12 months or longer. In addition, 1,473 cases were waiting for a decision. That is the backlog. We welcome the extension of protections to gardaí, but unless they can reach the mechanisms and have their cases heard quickly, it is not as laudable as suggested. The Minister of State needs to ask the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, to check the other chairs in his house. He might find another few million euro stuffed down their backs. The delays are a cause for concern, as many of those who have taken cases and are waiting for them to be heard find it difficult to get alternative work due to their previous employments being under examination. Is the Minister of State satisfied that enough money has been allocated to address the significant delays and provide for the estimated 10% increase in case numbers that this Bill will bring? If its protections were extended to the Defence Forces, that figure could be increased further, possibly by much more.

We intend to table amendments to strengthen the Bill and give effect to the points that I have raised, particularly regarding the Defence Forces. I thank the Minister of State for introducing the Bill. It is a step in the right direction and we will not oppose it, but I will argue strongly on Committee Stage that it needs to do more.

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