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

Some 136 constitutions globally refer to the right to work. Some 133 included the right to healthcare and 81 include the right to housing. The Irish Constitution refers to the right to private property. This has been used to deny union recognition. One has the right to join a union but not to be recognised. It has been used to weaken anti-eviction legislation and so on. It would be a step forward for the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to be inserted into the Constitution. It would not transform Irish society but it would give stronger legal argumentation for those who campaign for these rights. That is precisely the reason Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael-led Governments over the years have not taken this step.

Last Friday evening at 6 p.m., Deliveroo workers took strike action. These precarious workers are denied guaranteed hours and guaranteed income. They are also denied access to sick pay, holiday pay and pensions. They have taken the first and most important step. They have begun to organise and to feel their own power. I believe they would benefit from this convention being mentioned in the Constitution.

Next Wednesday marks the 300th day of the Debenhams dispute. This week, these workers turned on their phones and televisions to find out that the Debenhams brand has been purchased for €55 million but not a single job is to be saved. It is vampire capitalism. They are campaigning for the €3 million offered to them by the State for upskilling to be converted into cash and made part of a just settlement offer to resolve the dispute. The friends of the Debenhams workers will back this motion in its unamended form and their opponents will not. That, with many other reasons, is a powerful reason to support this motion, which we will do.

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