Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank and congratulate the Social Democrats for putting forward this motion, which the Labour Party will be supporting. We absolutely reject the amendment put down by the Government. I will refer to that in a moment.

I would like everybody listening to this debate to pause for a second and realise where we are. We are in the north inner city in the geographical birthplace of the workers' rights movement in Ireland. We are in the shadow of Liberty Hall and we are within walking distance of where Jim Larkin once spoke to striking dockers. It is possible to take a trip down Henry Street and see the plaque commemorating where the Dunnes Stores' women, they were predominantly women, went on strike in the 1980s. This is not a history lesson of course because, as has been referred to, the Debenhams' workers are just the latest example of how the struggle for workers' rights continues.

I find the amendment put down by the Government to be an insult. It is an insult to what the Social Democrats' motion is attempting to achieve, an insult to those who believe in workers' rights and an insult to those who have struggled for long years to obtain workers' rights and to enshrine those in legislation. I am not, however, surprised, because the Tánaiste and Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Varadkar, actually insulted myself, my party and our efforts to deal with the High Court judgment only yesterday when he said that what we were engaging in was "virtue signalling". That is what he said and this is the same individual who, when launching his Fine Gael leadership campaign three years ago, stated that he intended to introduce legislation to ban those in the public sector who work in essential services from striking. This is the type of political ethic with which we are dealing with the Tánaiste. That was enough to get some political support for his candidacy for the leadership of the Fine Gael Party three years ago and yet these are the same essential workers that he was happy to applaud during this pandemic and to state that without them our country would have fallen apart. That is classic dog-whistling.

The Labour Party and other parties in the Oireachtas have gone to great lengths to introduce legislation to improve the lot of workers in Ireland in recent years and that legislation has been rejected by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. I refer to the Industrial Relations (Joint Labour Committees) Bill 2019 put forward last year by then Senator and now Deputy Nash. That Bill was rejected by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. The Protection of Employment (Measures to Counter False Self Employment) Bill 2017, put forward in June 2019, was again galling because the Government at that time stated that it would introduce its own bogus self-employment legislation and yet there is no sign of it a year later. The issue here is that bogus self-employment actually cheats us all. I go back again to the Tánaiste's political ethic. When it comes to welfare, he is quite happy to put on the side of a bus a sign saying "Welfare cheats cheat us all". Bogus self-employment costs this country hundreds of millions of euro each year because of losses in PRSI, yet nothing was done about it in respect of the legislation which we introduced and a commitment was not lived up to.

Regarding workers' rights, we live in a low-pay, low-tax economy. We live in an economy where, before Covid-19 hit, 23% of Irish workers were on statistical low pay. That is an OECD figure. It is a scandal and it is a statistic that should shame us all, because living on a low wage is humiliating. It grinds people down, burrows into the marrow of their bones and could stay with them for life. As has been referred to by my colleagues in the Social Democrats, it is disproportionately migrant workers and women who are affected.

Of course, low pay is, naturally enough, unprotected by collective bargaining rights. That is because we have some of the weakest collective bargaining rights in Europe. Inevitably, an employer that has a veto on collective bargaining negotiations has no interest in lifting up the 23% of our entire workforce who are in low pay. This is not just a low-pay issue, because 40% of young people under 30 years of age are in insecure work. Insecure employment leads to insecure accommodation which in turn leads to insecurity in a whole range of other areas of life, including educational prospects. That is the economy to which the Government is telling us that it is hoping to return.

With the greatest of respect to the Minister of State and what he is trying to achieve, suggesting that welfare cheats cheat us all but that bogus self-employment is not something we need to worry about immediately is wrong. I suggest to him as well that anybody who stands in front of a microphone and states that it is necessary to introduce legislation to ban those in the public sector who work in essential services from striking has not got a clue what he is talking about and should not have the gall some years later to applaud those same workers when they are saving lives.

I also want the Government to recognise that we have a low pay economy within which we need collective bargaining rights. If it is unconstitutional to have this - I imagine the Attorney General will advise the Government that it is the case - then let us have a constitutional referendum and a citizens' assembly on the matter. The Government is justifiably organising an assembly in respect of the drugs issue and education. A task force has been recommended by the Social Democrats. We could go with that. If a constitutional referendum is required to change the Constitution to allow for collective bargaining rights and to break the employer veto, then let us go with it.

I put it to the Minister of State that for the Tánaiste, the Minister who is in charge of this area, to stand in Dáil Éireann and accuse members of the Labour Party or any other party of virtue signalling because we introduced legislation to protect those who need legislative protection is beneath him, his ministerial office and the dignity of this Government. This is especially the case since the people are looking to the Government for help, support and protection. What the Social Democrats are proposing and what Sinn Féin, the Labour Party and others are supporting is not virtue signalling. It is about workers rights and the ongoing struggle. I really hoped that the Government produced a better and more thought-out amendment than the effective insult it has brought forward this evening.

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