Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

That is no problem at all. I was essentially making the point that this Bill is missing anything to address the situation facing the Debenhams workers and other workers who may be in the same situation in the future. There is a difference in the approach taken by the current Taoiseach compared with what he said about Clerys over five years ago. At that time, he spoke about what happened to Clerys as the worst example of vulture capitalism. The difference in approach is striking now that he is the Taoiseach and has the power to do something about it. He repeats a particular set of words about how poorly the workers are treated, which I am sure he believes, whenever he is asked about the subject. At the same time, he is taking no action.

At the very least, there should be a restructuring of the order of creditors to ensure that workers come first. In this particular case, the State needs to give up its position as a first creditor and ensure that the €5 million tax debt owed to the State can instead go to workers. I encourage people to support the national demonstration that is happening on Saturday, 8 August because the fight for Debenhams workers is a fight for all workers.

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