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

I thank Solidarity-People Before Profit for bringing the motion to the floor of the House. It gives us all an opportunity to speak on this issue and for the Government to respond. Like many parties, the Labour Party has met with the Debenhams workers. Senator Sherlock and I met with some of these courageous workers and their representatives in Mandate trade union today.

It is important for Irish society, and what is sometimes called "middle Ireland", to understand the magnitude of a decision which a worker makes to engage in industrial action of the scale taken by the Debenhams workers. Sometimes I do not get the sense that middle Ireland or people who have not grown up in the tradition of labour or activism in industrial disputes understand how huge a commitment it is to engage in this type of industrial action or protest. It is draining, exhausting, it occupies every waking moment of one's brain. It sucks in the entire family and is all a person can possibly think or talk about. Initial camaraderie and even gaiety during the first days when there is a huge level of collective endeavour can sometimes wane. One can imagine the mental strain on a person 100 days into a dispute. All people grasp for is a tiny bit of hope that they might get somewhere.

The problem is that we have been here before. As others have observed, it happened with Clerys and with HMV. The market has no conscience. We cannot expect the market to self-regulate, or to deal with the level of conscience, it will not because the market does not have one. It deals in profit and money, and those they employ to make the money are expendable.

As a result of the Clerys scenario, my colleague, Deputy Nash, and Deputy Bruton commissioned a report for the Government which was published in 2017. It was written by Ms Nessa Cahill and Mr. Kevin Duffy. The Duffy Cahill report made recommendations and it is only reasonable that the Government should implement them so that, regardless of how we get through this together, we do not have another one of these incidents in a number of months time, because this is what businesses always do. They will manipulate whatever mechanisms they can and screw over whoever they possibly can for their own short-term gain. Someone who has worked for 25 or 30 years is only expendable.

I met with the workers today. They spoke of their exhaustion, but also how resolute they are. I want to remind Debenhams, which is possibly watching this debate, that we see them. We see the Government and its response but we know that Debenhams.ieis still trading. I ask Irish consumers to use their power as consumers when it comes to clicking on Debenhams.ie.

The Tánaiste, who is the senior Minister, met the workers and their representatives in Mandate today. We support the motion, will vote for it tomorrow and we congratulate those who put it forward, but it is likely to fail because that is what happens in this over-and-back Private Members' business, where Government Deputies vote down Opposition motions. That is the way of it. However, based on the Tánaiste's meeting with the workers today there is a sense that there is a way forward. I appeal to the better nature of Government representatives. Rather than walking away from tonight's debate or tomorrow's vote and hoping it goes away, I ask them to use the goodwill of what workers and their representatives presented. The Government should continue in that vein and use the mechanisms outlined today which are at the Government's disposal to find a resolution to this issue. There is enough goodwill in Government to do this.

I appreciate those of us in opposition like to characterise Government parties in a particular way and we will do that. I have done it and will do it again. However, one cannot play politics with people's livelihood, lives and futures. If there is an opportunity for the Government to do something decent and right for these workers I ask that it please do so. If the Government does so, it should be commended. However, we cannot wait for the next Debenhams, Clerys or HMV to happen in a few months, as it inevitably will. Let us be as fair as we can. If the Government takes what was said today to the maximum of what can be done, it will be in sight of a resolution.

The workers are within sight of a resolution and it is something that we can all possibly be happy with. We cannot be happy that the legislative underpinning of industrial relations in this country allows this to continue to happen. We have to implement this report. If we do that, all of us can feel that we are achieving something rather than coming in, making a speech, walking out and feeling that we have done enough. That is the Labour Party’s position. Let us do the right thing for the workers and take the goodwill of today to the next stage. This can be done. I hope these words of mine are not repeated to me in a week’s time as if I am being incredibly naïve. Next week or in ten days' time, I do not want to be seen to be incredibly naive because I jumped on the possibility arising from the Minister's decision to open a door for these workers. Time is short and August will be a dead month for politics and the media. The workers know the opportunity to have something done by the Government will last until the end of the month. I am pleading with the Minister, on behalf of these workers, to do the right thing in the next ten days and to ensure that when the Dáil returns, we can start the process of implementing the Duffy Cahill Report and working collaboratively to ensure we do not have another Debenhams, Clerys or HMV.

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