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

The last time the Taoiseach and his party were in government and faced with a major crisis, at that time caused by the greed of bankers and developers, working people got it in the neck, hundreds of thousands of people lost their jobs or had cuts to their pay and a decade of austerity followed. For most people the test as to whether Fianna Fáil has changed and will lead the Government of change that people voted for on 8 February is how working people will fair under its government. A key and immediate litmus test as to whether it will bring that change and whether ordinary, working people are going to get a fair deal and the support they need under this Government, faced with another crisis, is the situation faced by 1,500 Debenhams workers who have been protesting following Debenhams' treatment of them in the most despicable manner by, without consultation and without notice, moving the company into liquidation in April of this year. The company has refused to negotiate with the workers and is orchestrating this situation. Even though there are probably tens of millions of euro worth of stock in the stores in Henry Street, Blackrock, Cork, Tallaght and Blanchardstown, apparently, this is a company with no assets. This is because, conveniently, the company, through a subsidiary, lent itself some money and made the Irish business a co-guarantor on money that it lent to itself, effectively eliminating all assets from the balance sheet of the company. This is despicable treatment of workers.

The Taoiseach said earlier that he is focused on legislation. What does he propose to do to support the Debenhams workers? Debenhams cannot be allowed to siphon off assets, as it is trying to do, to prevent a fair redundancy deal for these workers. The legislation to re-order the priority creditors in situations of liquidation needs to be immediately amended such that workers in this situation are not treated in this despicable way, as happened in the case of the Clerys' workers. This issue has been well flagged. Where companies are contravening employment legislation or treating workers in this way they should suffer serious penalties for doing so. The Taoiseach needs to utilise all of the sections available to Government through the Companies Act 2014, in particular sections 599 and 608, to make sure that the company does not take off with the assets and that the workers get the fair redundancy and decent treatment they deserve. Solidarity-People Before Profit has placed a motion to this effect on the Dáil Order Paper, which the Debenhams' workers hope the Government and all parties will support and thus take the actions necessary to get them a just settlement. As we speak, these women workers are picketing outside the Henry Street store to prevent assets being physically removed from it by a cynical company that has treated them with contempt.

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