Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I would like to say to the Labour Party leader and to that party that I do not welcome what they are doing today. It is a complete farce. They are trying to cod people. I remind the people of what the Labour Party stood for and did. When it was in power and had an opportunity, it was disgraceful and did nothing for workers. It was the party that did away with the death grant for bereaved families. It hurt ladies in particular who were trying to get a pension when they retired and to this day they are paying a price. There are people across the country who are paying a price for what the Labour Party did when it went into power and completely forgot who its voting base was.

It forgot the people in what I would call honourable Labour. There were great people in the Labour Party. In the county that I am from, we had good, respectable people, such as the late Michael Moynihan, and Dan Spring, who served on Kerry County Council with our late father, Jackie Healy-Rae. There were good people in the Labour Party but, my goodness, they are not related to the Labour Party that is in here trying to cod the people with this Bill.

The Labour Party is saying nothing about the people who create work. I again want to register that I am a small employer. The Labour Party knows nothing about work and is here talking about workers' rights. There is not one person in the Labour Party who paid a person on a Friday evening and they do not give a damn. They are just trying to be populist and popular, attacking the Government. We are all genuinely interested in workers and workers' rights, and we want them to be taken care of, but I will not fall for this nonsense from Labour. When it had a chance, it did nothing for workers. Do not cod the people.

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