Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I obviously cannot make any commitments on behalf of KPMG. It is a court-sponsored liquidation process and the Deputy will appreciate why I cannot intervene.

There will be workers' rights legislation, including legislation on sick pay. We might not have it in this session, but I anticipate we will have it in the first half of the year. I hope I will have the co-operation of the House in getting that legislation passed before the summer recess so we can implement it before the end of the year.

I am aware of the decision of the former Debenhams workers to reject the proposals made by the chairman of the Labour Court. It is their right to do so. The Government has been engaged in this matter for many months. I have met the unions and spoken to the liquidator and Debenhams UK. I have brought in the Workplace Relations Commission and the chairman of the Labour Court. What is on offer is €13 million from the Social Insurance Fund so the former workers get their legal entitlements to redundancy and a further €3 million in training grants. It would be difficult to turn that €3 million in training grants into cash and then tell all the other workers who received statutory redundancy in the past year that they would not get it too.

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