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

I will share time with Deputy Boyd Barrett. I want to start on the issue of jobs. Estimates that a no-deal Brexit could result in 40,000 job losses could prove to be conservative, according to the Minister for Finance, Deputy Paschal Donohoe. It is an absolute priority that jobs are protected. How can this best be done? What is the best model for protecting jobs?

Let us start by looking at what the Bill provides for. Among other things, this Bill provides for, first, Enterprise Ireland to lend up to €7.5 million to a company without having to consult the Government and more than that if it has the Government's permission; second, Enterprise Ireland to invest up to €7.5 million in a company without having to consult the Government and more than that with its permission; third, an array of increased grants to companies for research; and, fourth, grant aid to the horticulture industry over and above its eligibility for Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine grants. It is a kind of bailout model which would see the State providing aid to the private sector.

A number of questions arise. Will the companies have to open their books for inspection before receiving aid? Will conditions of state aid be that a company guarantees that there will not be any job losses, it will not cut wages, it will comply with environmental standards and it will recognise trade unions?

In other words, will a company be allowed to receive state aid and then cut jobs or cut wages?

I am totally in favour of saving jobs. I am in favour of state aid to save jobs but I am also in favour of doing it on a different basis. Medium or large size enterprises that need state aid in this crisis should be taken into State ownership. In other words, they should be nationalised. Of course, when the banks were nationalised ten year's ago, they did not serve the people. They shut branches, axed jobs and hammered mortgage holders. Their boards were stuffed with establishment figures. There should be no establishment figures this time. Nationalisation in this crisis should be done on the basis of workers' control and workers' management. These nationalisations should guarantee job protection, protection of wage rates, the highest environmental standards and trade union rights.

Retailers from the Republic, Northern Ireland and Britain joined forces last week to warn that the price of everyday food items could jump by up to 45% in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The director of Retail Ireland, Mr. Thomas Burke said:

Regardless of the type of Brexit agreed over the coming weeks, retailers will see an increase in their operating costs arising from checks at ports and other supply chain disruption. In the current operating environment, these additional costs simply cannot be absorbed and will have to be passed on to the consumers in the form of higher prices.

Retail Ireland represents the interests of the big chains. I do not believe that the big chains simply cannot absorb increased costs. To take just one example, pre-tax profits soared by almost 800% to just under £1.3 billion at Tesco in the period from February 2017 to February 2018. I can state with a degree of certainty that Tesco can absorb increased costs better than a household on the average industrial wage or a household on not much more than the minimum wage for that matter. I would say to the Tescos of this world that if they try to increase prices by anything remotely resembling the kind of figures mentioned last week, they will need to prepare for protest outside of the shops. I will be there myself, along with many others I suspect. If they want to take that as a warning that is fine because that is exactly what it is. Furthermore, the trade union movement should take action to ensure that wages are not undermined by price increases. Wages should either be linked to prices or the State should act to freeze prices. The unions need to put this Government under real pressure on this issue.

We know the red lines laid down by the Tory government. We know the red lines laid down by nationalism and unionism. It is time for the labour movement to lay down its red lines. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions needs to convene a conference as a matter of urgency to bring together every working class activist on the island of Ireland to discuss these matters alongside workers' representatives from England, Scotland and Wales. Delegates from trade unions, representatives from workplaces and genuine cross-community groups should all be invited. No to job losses and price increases, no to wage cuts and no to sectarian division. Yes to nationalisation to save jobs, yes to action against price increases and yes to the unity of working class people in fighting to defend our jobs, conditions and futures. These are the red lines the working class movement needs to discuss and to act on.

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