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

Today is day 250 of the Debenhams dispute. The Taoiseach was asked by multiple parties across this House to intervene to resolve this dispute before Christmas in order that workers could spend the holiday season at home with their families rather than freezing on picket lines and having to stress about an ongoing dispute. He appointed the chairman of the Labour Court, Kevin Foley, as mediator on 25 November. The expectation was that a proposal would be on the table no later than 7 December, allowing workers time to conduct a ballot and have a result a few days before Christmas Day. However, not only was there no proposal by 7 December, there was no proposal by 9 December.

Now, as of 2.15 p.m., there has been no proposal by 15 December. What was meant to happen within 12 days has taken more than 20. Where is the delay in these three-cornered talks? The talks have not been delayed by the workers. They have signalled their willingness to consider any serious offer. I have been highly critical of KPMG's role in this entire dispute, but I do not believe that it has delayed the talks either. Instead, I believe the delay is on the side of the Government.

Let us register a few points here. These are workers, overwhelmingly women, who were sacked by email, and robbed of their jobs under the cover of Covid. They were let down by the previous Government which failed to implement the Duffy Cahill report and lied when it said that a Clerys situation would never happen again. That was a Government which was kept in power for four years by the Taoiseach's party and whose failure to act met with no protest or interruption by either the Taoiseach or his party. These workers have protested for eight long months through a pandemic, through nights and through winter, and they have appealed to the Taoiseach not just for a settlement but for a just settlement.

Last week the Government came in for a mauling at the hands of public opinion for axing the pay rates agreed for student nurses in the springtime and for allowing them to work on our hospital front lines now for not even a penny's pay. Will the Government abandon and betray a second group of women workers in the run-up to Christmas? With ten days to go, will the Government allow the dispute to remain unresolved by Christmas Day? Can it be the case that the Government is so cynical that it is prepared to stall negotiations until such time that the Dáil rises on Thursday for fear of facing comment or criticism on the floor of Dáil Éireann? Is it the case, as many workers believe, that the Government is blocking a fair deal for these workers and intend to deny the justice that both they and their families deserve this Christmas time?

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