Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is correct that I met the workers in the Taoiseach's office. They were realistic and they were not easily fooled by anybody about what was possible and not possible within the law. They had no intention of being taken up the mountain only to be led back down again. They were focused on trying to get a realistic package for themselves and their colleagues, who have spent a long time with the company and who have worked for many years. The Deputy knows full well that last week's offer was not a Government offer so he should not try to portray it as such.

To be fair to the trade union involved, Mandate, it is doing its best within limited circumstances to try to get some sort of a package from a company that has left, through the process where some resources could perhaps be freed up to make a contribution to the workers' situation. That is my understanding of the situation but I was not directly involved in that; nor was the Government.

I went to the picket line on St. Patrick's Street because the workers asked me to go. I did not go for a photograph. When I was there, the workers asked if they could take a photograph with their mobile phones and of course they could. The Deputy should not make comments of that sort in a derogatory way as he is passing by in his contribution. As I have said, my only focus is on the workers themselves. They have worked for this company for a long time and they have been badly let down. The Government, through its mechanisms, will fulfil its obligations in respect of statutory redundancy. As for the law, there are commitments in the programme for Government to make sure that legal provisions are made around collective redundancies and the liquidation of companies to protect effectively the rights of workers into the future.

That is the priority but that will not help in the current situation and with the challenges facing the workers in Debenhams. It is an issue that the Government is very concerned about, as is the plight of the workers. We intend to do anything we possibly can to help them in the aftermath of the closure of the stores in this country, within the law and the frameworks available to us.

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