Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On the Deputy's opening statement on Apple getting sorted and so on, Apple did not get sorted. Apple is also about workers. Apple has been in Ireland since 1980 and the court decision is that there was no state aid to Apple. This is the essential point that the court decided. Apple now employs 6,000 people throughout the country. This is important. There has been an ongoing view from the Deputy and others consistently undermining the role of multinational companies in Ireland. I want to put on the record that it is an important role. It underpins the work of many small to medium sized companies that also create thousands of jobs. There are hundreds of thousands of jobs involved in companies such as Apple. It was important in terms of protecting the industrial policy of the past 30 or 40 years, in my view, to identify the State's credibility and reputation whereby we do things within the law.

That said, with regard to Debenhams workers I will not commit to something I cannot legally deliver. I will not do that in the House. I have said before that the treatment of the workers by Debenhams was unacceptable and wrong and that the law does need to change. This in itself will not benefit the workers themselves. The State has to do everything it possibly can through its various schemes and mechanisms to support the workers. Ideally, we can secure alternative employment and provide a range of other supports over and above income supports to help the workers. There is a long-established position in terms of statutory redundancy being the State's mechanism to support workers in this situation. This still holds. That said, this does not in itself provide satisfaction for the workers because they are being denied justice by the company. The company's behaviour has been disreputable and wrong. It has not treated workers with the dignity or respect they deserve or given them supports..

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