Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The Government and Deputy Lahart tried to muddy the waters and to deflect to absolve themselves of responsibility for giving a direct answer to the questions that this motion asks of them and to cover the fact that they have deleted our entire motion and replaced it with vague promises of reviews, no tangible commitments and, essentially, a recapitulation of existing legislation, which implies there really is no problem at all. There is a big problem. Deputy Lahart should note the motion does not ask for a socialist republic. It asks for the Government to implement the Duffy-Cahill report into legislation in order that what is being done to the Debenhams workers can never be done again. The Government cannot commit to it. It will not commit to it. If we are sceptical it is because it is five years since that report and the Clerys incident. As I said previously, this has gone on for years under previous Fianna Fáil Governments. I refer to Vita Cortex, La Senza and Thomas Cook. It goes on and no action is taken. The Government can hardly blame us for being sceptical.

We ask that something we learned from the liquidators, not dreamed up in some left-wing textbook, be done. The liquidators said that the Government as priority creditors could instruct them to dispose of the assets in favour of the workers. The Government has still not responded to that point. It should give the instruction. It should give the commitment to engage with Bank of Ireland, which is directly involved in triggering the process for its own interests and for the profits of its shareholders that has led to the cynical dumping of 1,400 workers. Will the Government tell Bank of Ireland that this is not acceptable and insist that proper redundancy is paid to workers by the consortium to which it is a party and in which it almost certainly was involved in engineering the dumping of debt onto the Irish company in order that the assets could be taken off the book?

I say to the Debenhams workers, "Do not listen to Deputy Lahart when he downplays protest". I was talking to the shop stewards earlier. They are hopeful. They are hopeful because the issue is being debated in the Dáil tonight and because they have met Ministers. The reason any of that has happened is because they have been determined in their protest for 100 days. It is the protests of those workers and their inspiring determination, bravery and courage that has forced this issue onto the agenda of this House and forced the Government to meet them. It is that determination, that inspiring heroism by the Debenhams workers that will see this battle to a successful conclusion, which conclusion, if it is victorious for the workers, will be a victory not just for the Debenhams workers but for every worker in this country who could face similar treatment in the future.

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