Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach. I am sure he can understand the anxiety of workers who now no longer enjoy the protection of SEOs and their desire for absolute clarity on the protections afforded to them. Can the Taoiseach state in a very straightforward way for the record of the Dáil what the interim protections for those workers are?

More generally, on the area of social dialogue itself, is the Taoiseach committed to ensuring that workers' rights, collective rights and trade union rights are stitched into the very fabric of the model for economic recovery? Furthermore, is he committed to ensuring community development and a sustained model of empowerment for communities, particularly disadvantaged communities in urban and rural settings, are stitched into the fabric of the model for economic recovery? Can the Taoiseach give some assurance that social dialogue will not just be cover for co-opting workers and those who are least advantaged in society onto an agenda that is simply about bigger economic and corporate players? Given the complexion of the Government headed by the Taoiseach, I respectfully suggest that there will be a certain cynicism around his commitment to these elements, which I regard as essential to a successful and sustained recovery.

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