Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The €3 million offer for retraining is an insult to Debenhams workers. The failure by the Government to ensure justice for these workers is appalling. I remind the Taoiseach that he said he could not put money on the table because it would set a precedent. A sum of €18 million is owed to the State by Debenhams. The Taoiseach did not mind setting a precedent when it came to bailing out banks to the tune of €64 billion. There was no moral hazard there, and no worry about the implications, but when it comes to workers who have worked for decades, who have done nothing wrong, and who are entitled to the two plus two agreed with Debenhams, we cannot underwrite them. We cannot guarantee to give them what they deserve, which is what even now the Government should do, and then it should pursue Debenhams. The Government is just standing idly by while saying there is nothing it can do for these workers, who are the most decent people one could imagine, and who have worked for this company, which has betrayed them cruelly.

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