Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to hear what the Minister has said. It would be a major step forward. I would like to get as much detail and information as possible on this. The allegation being made by some workers can be summed up by comments made by the SIPTU equity representative when he was asked about blacklisting in the film industry. He said:

People are terrified of rocking the boat in any way, shape or form when they are in a precarious situation in work. One of the questions on the survey asked whether respondents had ever experienced or observed any form of bullying or harassment. Something in the region of 65% to 70% of people said yes. The next questions asked if they reported it. Of that 70% of respondents who had said yes, roughly 70% said that they did not report it for fear of not getting the next job.

He went on to attribute this low level of reporting to the "precarious" nature of the industry. If such a level of concern about blacklisting and being seen to rock the boat exists, that does not sound like quality employment to me. It is critical for us to design our approach to attracting the investment that is necessary in this sector in a way that ensures people who are employed in it are not vulnerable to the sort of thing that has been described.

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