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

I think and, I hope, that when the names of taoisigh, tánaistí and Deputies who were in office over the past year have been long forgotten, the memory, inspiration and the legend of what the Debenhams workers have done over the past 15 months will still echo through the annals of working-class history. I have no doubt people will be singing songs, reciting poems and writing plays about what these workers have done, as was done in respect of the Dunnes Stores anti-apartheid strikers, because they were fighting in the most inspirational and determined way for something that is right and good, but not just or themselves although that is how it began. These people have been fighting against the shocking treatment they suffered at the hands of a company for which they had worked loyally for decades. What is truly inspiring about the Debenhams workers is that they continue that fight even though they now know that the Government is not going to do the right thing by them and ensure that they get their two weeks statutory plus two weeks, the redundancy entitlements agreed and which they should have got. Despite that, they carry on because they know it is important to fight for others, to make sure that what they went through is not inflicted on other workers. That is what heroes do. That is inspiration and that is what will be remembered long after the cowardice and inaction of the Government have been forgotten.

There is no doubt but that the Government, in claiming there is nothing it can do for the Debenhams workers, is hiding its true priorities, which, always, are to ensure and protect the interests of big business ahead of the interests of working people. No matter what the Government says to the contrary, this is clearly the case. As stated by Deputy Barry, it is not as if this is the first time this issue has come in front of Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael. I refer to La Senza, Vita Cortex, Clerys and Arcadia, in respect of which, as in the case of Debenhams, there was no action. We had promises, expressions of concern and commitments to do things in the future, but nothing done. If one reads between the lines of many of the comments that were made in the pathetic excuses for the inaction of the Government, there is always the little whisper of "We do not want to do anything that would deter the investors." That is the truth of the matter. It is the reason for the Government's inaction. As with the housing crisis that we are currently facing and the cuckoo funds, lurking behind the pathetic excuses and inaction is the unwillingness to take on big business interests, to challenge them and say that justice for working people and fairness for working people should come before the hunger for profit of big business.

In the case of Debenhams and all the other examples I mentioned, we are talking about cynical, ruthless big business that is willing to just toss workers on the scrapheap regardless of the human consequences in order to guarantee its profits and interests. However, the Government is unwilling to do anything about it. That is shameful because who was it who generated the value in Debenhams, the reputation and the value of its brand? Who generated the wealth of that company? It was the workers, but they are at the bottom of the queue when it comes to actually benefiting from the liquidation of the assets. The Government is unwilling to change that. Even now, when it has said it will do something about the matter, it puts down a countermotion to defer the Second Reading for a year. Why? It is because it wants to make sure that we do not upset big business instead of just saying that Debenhams has finally shown us that we must put the workers first. It seems this thought is unthinkable for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. They have never done it before and have no intention of doing it now.

The Minister can rest assured that while this particular phase of the Debenhams dispute may be coming to an end, these workers will not give up. It was truly inspiring to see Karen Guerin from the Dunnes Stores anti-apartheid strike standing with the Debenhams workers outside the Dáil a week or two ago. These are the sort of heroes who actually bring about change. It was a point James Connolly many years ago when he pointed out that it is the working people who have always brought the changes. It has never been the people at the top who did so. It was always working people who fought for progressive real change to benefit the majority.

The Debenhams workers will undoubtedly stand in the great pantheon of workers who have fought for real change on behalf of the majority of working people in this country. If this Bill is eventually passed or any reform is achieved, and I have no doubt it will be, it will be because of the determination, heroism and grit of those Debenhams workers. It has been truly an inspiration to stand with these workers on the picket lines. They are some of the most remarkable people I have ever met. What they have done goes so far above and beyond the call of duty. They have shown utter selflessness, particularly in the past few months when it became so clear that this Government was not willing to do anything, and bravery in the face of the outrageous behaviour we saw in Henry Street and in Waterford in the past week or so when gardaí, some of whom were in paramilitary garb, were sent in to drag mostly women - mothers and grandmothers - off picket lines in order to facilitate strike breakers. That really says it all. The guardians of the peace are sent in by someone. I do not know who it is. Is it the Government or the Garda Commissioner? They are certainly sent in to do stuff they should not be doing. That involved facilitating the use of force against these workers who are fighting a just cause - a cause that even the Government has had to admit is just - to facilitate strike breakers taking away the stock that was workers' bargaining chip in their fight for justice. It was truly shameful but the shameful nature of that action and the Government's inaction when it came to intervening on behalf of these workers and, indeed, changing the law to ensure it never happens again to another group of workers is not lost on the vast majority of working people.

I have no doubt that the Debenhams workers will prevail in the end but it will certainly not have been with any help from this Government, which has sat idly by while they have stood on picket lines in hail, rain and snow throughout this pandemic, fighting for justice and the right cause on behalf of every worker in this country. We know there will be more like them. There will likely be a retail massacre, with more workers facing the injustice the Debenhams workers have faced. At that point, the inaction and excuses of this Government will stand truly exposed. In the end, the Debenhams workers will prevail.

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