Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

During this whole period we are talking about the July stimulus. As a number of Deputies said yesterday, this stimulus is bring introduced at the same time as the initial pandemic unemployment payments are being cut, when we were implementing regressive measures in the economy and reducing the free flow of money in the economy. We need to take all that into account. We welcome some of the measures for companies, especially the provision on the debt threshold for administration and examinership, which gives some wriggle room for companies that are in a precarious position.

We also welcome the provisions to allow AGMs to be carried out via videoconferencing, etc. Over this period through the use of Zoom and other applications we have learned that we can do a considerable amount of work remotely. The Bill rectifies certain issues for companies, but we also need to follow up with actions to protect workers who work from home.

We also have to look at possible solutions that would represent a halfway house, particularly for people who do not have the same access to broadband as others. There are proposals for operational hubs in some areas and some already exist. There is plenty of space and the right facilities to do this in Dundalk. People who now work in major firms, particularly technological and IT firms in the city, could work in shared facilities in the town of Dundalk in groups of two or three or even on their own. This would save them and their families the time lost in commuting and would help save the environment as fewer people would be travelling using any type of transport. It would also allow people the positive aspects of the workplace setting because people have realised that, although it is great to be able to work remotely at times and to spend time with family, there are mental health advantages to shared workspaces. We need to follow up on this.

I will refer to a major failure of the State which existed long before the pandemic. We welcome the moves being made to protect companies but there has been an absolute failure to protect workers. Some companies have taken advantage of this period and believe that one should never waste a good crisis. I know of a firm in my home town, National Pen, which laid off a number of people. People were able to see that jobs similar to those jobs which were about to be lost, or about which negotiations were ongoing, had already been posted on recruitment websites in Tunisia and other parts of North Africa. These postings were taken down from one website and put up on another. The company also failed to allow negotiations involving union members or third parties with experience in negotiations. This is absolutely unfair. This issue must be dealt with as quickly as possible. Sinn Féin brought a motion before the House which aimed to deal with some of these issues. It is unfortunate that it was voted down by the Government.

We have also spoken about the absolute failure of the July stimulus package to deal with these issues. Like my colleagues, a number of companies have spoken to me recently and they were very hopeful that the July stimulus would enable them to operate into the future. I fear that some of them will be in a very precarious position in the near future. We need Government action.

We have not yet dealt with the difficulty regarding the Health and Safety Authority's lack of capacity and powers to investigate cases of outbreaks. We also need testing and tracing to ensure that we can isolate problems and continue to open our economy. There are significant problems and we need to ensure they are all dealt with. We welcome some aspects of the Bill but we need more action quickly.

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