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

We are here to talk about protecting jobs and supporting businesses. As part of that, we must also protect workers. None of these measures will work in the world we now live in if we do not have the testing, tracing and isolation infrastructure to underpin them. We all saw the difficulties in this House this week. Thankfully, the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, tested negative for Covid-19. I wish him well. Proceedings could be resumed quickly, despite certain mistakes being made, because the Minister could get a rapid test result. That is absolutely vital. I was somewhat shocked by a report at the end of the "Six One News" showing once again that we do not have the infrastructure we require. We must put all the Government's resources towards reaching the capacity to offer 100,000 tests per week in order that we can keep schools, businesses and this Parliament open and keep all other aspects of our society alive. One difficulty concerns the reagent, which is critical for rapid testing. Difficulties of this sort must be overcome or everything will come to a halt very quickly. I accept that some of these issues are global but we must do our part to address them.

The opening of schools is very welcome, and we recognise the work done by the Government, as well as by teachers, staff and parents. We must ensure that they stay open. This is vital for parents, who are part of the workforce we are talking about protecting.

I welcome some of the points made earlier. The Minister of State, Deputy Troy, spoke about the need for corporate enforcement. Several of my colleagues have already spoken about the need for workers' rights legislation. The recommendations of the Duffy-Cahill report still have not been implemented. Many Members of this House have spoken about the travesty facing the Debenhams workers. An issue arose with National Pen in my own town of Dundalk. A factory was laying people off as the firm was advertising positions in Tunisia. Workers were not allowed to bring in third-party or union representation so the negotiation was between the company, with all its experience, and a collection of individuals. It was incredibly unfair. This is one of the aspects of industrial relations we have not dealt with yet.

I also welcome Deputy Troy's comments on insurance. Long before we had to deal with the pandemic, the leisure and entertainment industry and the aforementioned taxi industry were dealing with huge insurance costs. We need to revise the book of quantum. The previous Government set certain things in train but we were too late to the game and we really need to catch up.

We are once again dealing with the madness of Brexit. Boris Johnson is now willing to break international law and deals that he himself concluded. This is leading to huge difficulties for businesses, companies and this State. We may have to deal with one hell of an unmerciful Brexit, with no mitigations, and this Government must plan accordingly. The mitigation that can be introduced is, literally, Irish unity. People must be given that choice and plans must be put in place. It is as simple as that.

Everybody here has spoken about the necessity for sector-specific supports. They are needed for taxi operators and travel agents. Members have discussed industries whose turnover has declined severely. Travel agents' turnover has fallen by 130%. Consumer protections, which are absolutely necessary, are killing these industries. There is also a difficulty for Aer Lingus workers, who are not able to use the Xs and Os system. That has been dealt with to some degree, but there is still the issue of back pay for the period when workers were supported by the temporary Covid-19 wage subsidy scheme. The entertainment industry is on its knees. If we want to have a society after this pandemic, we must put the protections in place now. Too many companies, sectors, businesses and jobs have fallen between the cracks and we need to give them all the protection they need.

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