Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank Solidarity-People Before Profit for moving the motion and acknowledge the representation it has given to the Debenhams workers in the past 100 days and more.

A couple of months ago, as the pandemic hit and we realised what its extent would be, it seemed we were all going to be in this together. The Government quickly introduced the pandemic unemployment payments to ensure people did not fall into poverty. We were protecting people. A couple of weeks later, Debenhams went into liquidation and the workers were let go. In this House, I watched the current Taoiseach, who was then the leader of the Opposition, send his regards and acknowledge the wrongness of the company's decision. I watched the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection highlight how great an injustice it was. All the parties met representatives of the workers and spoke about how wrong this was. This was all a case of tokenism and false gestures of solidarity and goodwill, because more than 100 days into this dispute, the Debenhams workers are still standing on picket lines in front the company's stores 24 hours a day to ensure stock cannot be removed. This is the only leverage they have despite all the mealy-mouthed promises that were made.

I heard it said on a radio programme that Debenhams is an institution. Debenhams is a company, not an institution, and has no particular relevance to the people of Ireland. The Debenhams workers, however, are incredible. One of the reasons public support for the Debenhams workers is so strong is that not only have some of them worked in stores for the past ten or 15 years, but I have known some of the Debenhams workers from the time of Roches Stores. What is happening to them is wrong and unjust. What these workers do not need are promises that action will be taken at some undefined time in the future. They need action to be taken now.

This is the second Wednesday in a row that we have sat in this would-be Chamber and discussed the issue of workers’ rights and how we can advance legislative protections and stand up for people who have always stood up for us, not just during the Covid period, but have always been treated unfairly by the State. The State acknowledges their work but never wants to pay them enough for it. It never wants to protect them in legislation, acknowledge the difficulties in their lives or seek to add the type of protections that would make their lives a little bit easier.

Similar to this evening, when we introduced a motion on workers’ rights last week, it was met with tokenism, gestures and commitments to do something in the future. A Government amendment diluted the motion and removed its essence and strength. The Minister of State spoke of what he is in favour of, which equates to nothing. Is this the line that will be drawn in this Chamber? We have groups, predominately of the left, which provide the first ideological divide in a Dáil, which is fine. If the dividing line is going to be between those who will stand up for workers and those who will not, I will be on the side of the people for whom it would be unconscionable to fall asleep in the workplace. I am on the side of those like the Debenhams workers who cannot go to sleep because they are standing outside their store 24 hours a day ensuring stock cannot be removed. I am on the side of the more than 160,000 workers who were living in conditions of poverty before the pandemic. Others spoke in Dáil Éireann about an Ireland of full employment but kind of whispered that despite full employment, many workers could not afford to pay their childcare costs and rent and were living in positions that were precarious. We are going to be on their side and if the Green Party, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael want to be on the other side, so be it. Let us have that divide.

There protection of workers' rights in this country is urgent. Debenhams is not the first of these cases by any stretch of the imagination. We have heard references to Vita Cortex and Clerys workers, and others. Covid-19 has accelerated something that would have happened in any event. I am a proud representative of the Dublin Central constituency which has a Debenhams store on Henry Street. I also take an interest in business in the inner city because that is where I grew up. We have all known for a long time that commercial footfall in Dublin Central as a whole was lessening and people were choosing to drive out to the shopping centres on the M50 or, worse for the employees, doing their shopping online. Tactical insolvency is being used to take advantage of that reality. If we do not legislate quickly, what is happening to Debenhams workers now will be happening all along Henry Street and Grafton Street. We will be in here again asking for something to be done and the Government parties, which have never really been on the side of the workers despite what they might say, will tell us all of the reasons nothing they cannot do anything. Let us be honest, the only people they are backing are the powerful, the bigger businesses.

This issue is urgent and we are asking the Government to act. Its amendment to the motion is an awful tactic. Tomorrow, this House will vote against a motion that people put great effort into for no reason other than this smarmy tactic. This will be to the detriment of our democracy. What will absolutely not be to the detriment of our democracy is when workers realise they are being taken for a ride by these parties and stand up, organise, engage, act and demand their rights.

Last week, when we introduced a motion calling for greater protections we were told workers would get a living wage at some defined point. In much the same way, Solidarity-People Before Profit is being told that protections will be put in place at some point to stop tactical insolvencies. We cannot wait that long. Workers, particularly in the retail sector, were vulnerable before the Covid-19 pandemic. These are the same workers who let us into Tesco when we queued up outside, manned the tills and ensured supply lines remained open and the shelves were stacked in order that we could buy food. We need to protect them.

There is a simple ask here which sheds light on the interests served by those in power in this country. It is the Duffy Cahill report, which was produced five years ago when similar statements were made in Dáil Éireann. Five years later, despite the similarity between the gestures and rhetoric of the then Government and the current one, nothing has happened. That is the choice being made in this House tonight. We can choose how we act and respond and whose interests we will serve. At a minimum, let us enact legislation to implement the recommendations of the Duffy Cahill report. What is happening with Debenhams and happened previously with other stores will be accelerated. Other large employers are looking at this case and when the Oireachtas is seen to do nothing, that will be the reality on every high street in this country.

See this speech in context