Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Independent Group for bringing this motion before the House. The issue of protecting workers' rights in the event of a business folding has taken on a whole new urgency in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Huge losses have been suffered by Ireland's SME sector over the past six months or so, running into billions of euro. Many small businesses have already been forced to close. Genuine fears have been expressed that some of the big retail chains, large employers with headquarters in other countries, may use the cover of the pandemic to up sticks and leave Ireland. If they see the likes of Debenhams getting away with not living up to its commitments and responsibilities, there is every chance that they will try to take the same path.

The Duffy Cahill report, which was completed in March 2016, proposed a series of protections for Irish workers made redundant through insolvency. It aimed to avoid a repeat of the situation faced by the staff of Clerys in Dublin, who were left high and dry after that company collapsed, leaving the State to pick up the pieces. Around the same time, Debenhams agreed, following negotiations with staff representatives, to a deal promising four weeks' pay per year of service to any staff made redundant. Yet, four years later that deal has been thrown out the window and the dust is still gathering on the Duffy Cahill report with none of its many recommendations brought into law.

To say the 1,000 or so Irish Debenhams workers have been badly treated is an understatement. The offer of an average payment of €1,000 per worker on top of their legal minimum entitlement of two weeks' pay per year of service was by any yardstick an insult to the workers. The payment of the equivalent of an extra one day of pay per year of service was never going to be acceptable to staff who only four years ago agreed in good faith to a redundancy deal promising them four weeks' pay per year worked. That offer only served to inflame passions further and widen the great gap that exists between the two sides. After withdrawing that paltry offer, the liquidators, KPMG, further rubbed salt in the wound by announcing that no further settlement agreements would be negotiated by it with the employees.

The staff picketing outside the Debenhams store in Galway and others around the country are not asking for anything extraordinary, just the entitlement they were promised. I compliment the staff in Debenhams in Galway who are protesting outside and peacefully in all sorts of weather. The Taoiseach himself has described the treatment of Debenhams staff as "shabby and shoddy and unacceptable". Words alone will not improve their lot or the situation potentially facing thousands more employees of large retail chains in the months ahead. We need the protections suggested by the Duffy Cahill report to be put in place as a matter of urgency to ensure that if workers lose their jobs, they can at least be guaranteed a fair settlement after many years of loyal and dedicated service.

While I support this motion, I am concerned that the establishment of a ring-fenced insolvency fund might result in employers being asked to foot the bill for it. Too many small and medium-sized businesses are on their knees right now, desperately struggling to stay afloat. Between them they lost up to €10 billion from March to June alone, according to a study by the ESRI. The effects of the pandemic are likely to hit my home city of Galway more than any other major urban area in the country according to a report from the Northern and Western Regional Assembly. That report found that more than 46% of Galway's commercial businesses were operating in the sector set to feel the greatest economic impact of the pandemic, which is a higher proportion than in Dublin, Cork, Limerick or Waterford. The last thing those businesses need is a further levy on top of everything else that could tip them over the edge of survival.

A new levy imposed on employers' PRSI would result in the opposite of what this proposal hopes to achieve. It could be the last straw that could send a business to the wall, resulting in job losses and further hardship for the very people this motion aims to assist. I am fully supportive of the call to legislate for the implementation of the Duffy Cahill report recommendations and I call on the Government to act on this as a matter of urgency.

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