Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I do not want to get into a slagging match about that but I am someone with a fair amount of industrial relations experience. I am not in the habit or in the practice of interfering in industrial disputes but I see a very clear role for the Government in this regard. I have spoken at length with representatives from Mandate. It is not good enough for the Tánaiste to simply say that he hopes an alternative buyer is found and that the jobs will be saved. We are talking about 500 jobs. He has a responsibility, as the Minister with responsibility for jobs, to intervene in this case. As he said, the first steps have to be to save the jobs. In that regard, is there anything the Tánaiste can do? I am trying to be positive. I am not in the business or the practice of giving workers false hope. I did not do that when I was a union organiser. I do not do it now as a TD. The Tánaiste appears to be a bit passive on this issue. He stands back, shrugs his shoulders and says that the nature of retail is changing. People are being driven to shop online because they do not have money in their back pocket. That is a fact. These jobs are important and I wanted to hear from the Tánaiste what he is prepared to do, in his role as Minster with responsibility for jobs, to save these jobs and to ensure these workers have a secure future.

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