Dáil debates

Wednesday, 19 December 2018

Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017: From the Seanad

 

4:15 pm

Photo of Mick BarryMick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

We will vote for the Bill and subsequent legislation. However, we oppose this amendment to remove a previous amendment to the Bill. Previous speakers made the point that this is an important issue. Workers are being denied holiday pay, the minimum wage and statutory maternity leave entitlements. We are not talking about small numbers of people. In the construction industry alone, there are between 30,000 and 60,000 people affected by bogus self-employment. This practice is spreading into other areas of the economy now. We know of the famous examples of Uber and Deliveroo as well as the case of Ryanair pilots. The issue is much broader than that now.

Deputy O'Dea said he got some flak for introducing this amendment in the summer. He is now getting flak from these benches for agreeing to the Government's proposal to remove this provision. It should be left in the legislation and we will call a vote on this issue because it is too important for too many workers.

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