Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I fully support the motion, moved by the Members of People Before Profit-Solidarity and RISE. This is very important in itself but it is even more important with what has happened this week and the way the news from the National Public Health Emergency Team, NPHET, has been received by the Government. I specifically refer to the Trump-like reaction of the Tánaiste, who rubbished the news when he got it but then told his party members, knowing full well that the news would be widely circulated, that it would happen anyway. In the meantime, the base is getting a great boost from how the hard man is taking on the freeloaders who are putting the people who work for a living to the sword, as they will not be affected anyway.

The motion we are debating attempts to protect those workers who are still feeling an impact from the Covid-19 response. It is most important that the Government learns that it is not the much-lauded entrepreneur who makes business work but rather the workers staffing that business. At the very least it is an equal partnership, with businesses becoming successful because of their workers. The problem is that the Government does not see it that way. The Tánaiste sees freeloader workers seeking to screw money out of the State, and the State must protect the vital entrepreneur from all those workers who just want to screw extra or unwarranted money from those entrepreneurs. I wonder how many others in the Government see it that way.

There is no doubt some innovators out there are always trying to make new businesses or trying new things and they must be supported but so must the workers. In most business there is an unequal balance between employer and worker, with the State firmly on the side of the employer when it should be on each side equally. There is no doubt that if the State had been more balanced, the outbreak would not have been as severe as we have seen, although conditions in our hospitals would always have left things very difficult.

What has been the common denominator in all the outbreaks? Low pay is the main reason for them. In this country workers cannot afford to get sick because if they do, they will not be able to pay their bills. Nursing homes, meat factories, shops and restaurants all have low-paid workers with no rights and very little support. There is not much surprise that these are the sectors in which we see outbreaks.

My county of Donegal shows these indicators where the largest outbreaks are evident, as low pay is predominant and there is a high dependence on social welfare. These people mainly work in non-unionised workplaces, and the rights of workers are the last thing on anybody's mind. This is the case even with the workers, who may be afraid to put themselves in a position of perceived vulnerability in pushing for union representation, as they know they will be targeted by employers. It is only by balancing the vulnerability of workers that this can be changed; we probably do not have the time to address this during the crisis so the only option is to maintain the Covid-19 payment at its previous level.

There is no doubt the Covid-19 payment was introduced in a panic by the Government, which was under pressure to react quickly to what was happening on the ground. This demonstrates how the Government naturally knows what is right but it is only when its members sit back and think that they want to penalise workers so inherently; what they are doing is wrong. They cannot get away from that mantra of representing people "who get up early in the morning". It is a problem for them. In reality, the Government could represent all of us better by protecting workers and making it possible for them to take sick leave if required.

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