Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I wish to deal with the issues of the PUP, training and internships and make a point about the Debenhams situation. Before I do so, I point out that the Government has taken a Keynesian turn in the budget. There is significantly increased State intervention in the economy and society. In taking these actions, the Government is in lockstep with capitalist governments globally which are boosting state intervention in order to sustain capitalism itself. In the hands of these governments, including the Irish Government, those Keynesian policies are likely to turn into their opposite within a couple of years, with a bill being presented to working people in the form of cuts, tax increases and the holding down of living standards. Of course, there is an alternative, which is to present the bill elsewhere and to tax the super wealthy in society. I have no confidence whatsoever that the Government will be prepared to do that. In order for the bill to be presented to the super wealthy, the Government would have to be removed from office and replaced by a new Government that does not include Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael. We need a left government which is under pressure from a movement from below and puts the issue of taxing the super wealthy onto the agenda. I have no doubt that if and when that happens that there will be real resistance from the wealthy in society. That would open up a contested space where there could be a real intensification of class struggle within society. I believe a movement from below could put such a government under real pressure to go further than just raising the issue of taxing the rich. It could pressure it to implement socialist measures that would strike blows at the dictatorship of the market in Irish society. I look forward to those debates and struggles which I am confident will take place.

In the budget, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy McGrath, allocated €200 million for training, skills development, work placement schemes, recruitment subsidies, job search and assistance measures. Let us remember what happened with one of the last such placement schemes, the infamous JobBridge scheme introduced in 2011. Indecon stated that 59% of those who participated in JobBridge did not even complete their internships, while fewer than 20% of participants got jobs immediately after the internship with their host company. A famous sketch about JobBridge on the "Republic of Telly" programme was a spoof on the Hollywood movie "12 Years a Slave".

Is the Government preparing to go back down the same road now with the masses of young people who are unemployed? I am concerned about that and I have questions about it. I raised a question yesterday about plans for internships where people would be paid €229, or €26 above the jobseeker's allowance rate, for 24 hours of work. In other words, €1.08 an hour would be paid by the company. I have increased concerns now after doing a bit of research overnight. When I look at the board of Skillnet Ireland, which is being given such an important role in this, I note that there are seven representatives on the board from the business community, three representatives of employees and three officials from the Department, which means there is a majority for the business interests. One of the people on the board of the company is Mr. Ian Talbot, who has been the chief executive of Chambers Ireland for the past 12 years. Many members of the chamber of which he is chief executive have exploited the JobBridge scheme to try to get cheap labour from young people. This is an issue that I will be watching carefully over the next while.

The Tánaiste stated on "Morning Ireland" this morning that reducing the PUP to €250 in February, as the Government had planned, may have to be reviewed and that funds are set aside in the budget for such a review if the virus is on the up at that point. That does not go far enough. The payment of the PUP should not only be a possibility, as per that comment. The PUP needs to be increased back to €350 per week. If that was seen as a reasonable and necessary rate in March of this year, nothing fundamental has changed in that regard. It should be restored to €350.

I watched "Virgin Media News at 12.30" and saw the reports from the picket lines at Patrick Street in Cork and Mahon Point in Cork. I listened carefully to the workers and their opinion on the ruling from the High Court yesterday which gave an injunction to KPMG against protests outside the 11 stores. The workers interviewed made it crystal clear that they are in the business of effective picketing, by which they mean stopping the vans and trucks from leaving the shops with the stock which they believe rightly is the basis for their redundancy payment which they deserve of right. I believe that the workers who were interviewed on "Virgin Media News at 12.30" represent the views, opinions and sentiment of the overwhelming majority of Debenhams workers who are prepared to carry out effective picketing. If that means scandalously that they are dragged in front of a High Court judge and if that means that they are scandalously threatened with jail, I believe that those workers are of a growing opinion that they should stand for what is right, fight for their claim for decent redundancy and not be bullied by court injunctions in that regard. They are clear that they will place the blame firmly at the feet of the Government, in particular, the Fianna Fáil Party and the Taoiseach, given the many missed opportunities that they have had to resolve this dispute. The budget is an opportunity for the Government. All it need do is set aside €10 million to settle this dispute and the just claim of the workers. Failure to do so will result in a very difficult situation for the workers but, I am increasingly of the opinion, a very difficult situation indeed for the Government.

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