Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

When I was on the picket line with Debenhams workers in recent months, many of them indicated that even if they did not get what they were due from the agreement they had made with the company, they wanted to ensure that no other workers would be put in a similar position. They were talking about what would happen post Christmas. They did not really expect a company the size of Arcadia to go just before Christmas. In the constituency of Dublin West, Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Burtons face potential closure, while Miss Selfridge and Topman have already closed, along with Debenhams. Workers have asked me why we are still allowing businesses to trade when they behave in such a cold way. That is borne out of the frustration of what they see in the case of the Debenhams workers. They ask why staff members' redundancy agreements are not being protected even after the Debenhams workers being on strike for such a long period. We know what the issues are because this happened previously with Clerys. They are puzzled, annoyed and angry that they have been left in this position, in the same way the Debenhams workers have been.

See this speech in context