Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I apologise. I have come straight from the Committee on Public Accounts to the Chamber and I had to negotiate several flights of stairs in between.

Like many aspects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the full impact on the workforce is probably yet to be seen. It will likely take years for us to fully comprehend the massive shifts that have and are taking place. The Department’s estimate is that between 25,000 and 56,000 people are expected to be laid off as a result of Covid-19. It is not something that will only be experienced during the pandemic; it is a phenomenon that will continue and that will have residual effects. We are most likely to see these lay-offs in sectors which have yet to bounce back from the impact of Covid-19. I refer to the hospital sector, catering companies, leisure centres and firms involved in large-scale event work. Indeed, a great deal of tax has been warehoused and much extra debt has been accrued in specific sectors. Viability in that context is going to be determined by just how robust the recovery is. We also cannot assume that there will be no further interruptions, but let us hope not. There is a real issue in this regard, however.

From March 2020 to September 2021, thousands of workers existed in a state of limbo. They had either been laid off or shifted onto part-time work during the pandemic. That was understandable. In many cases, they watched as their places of work struggled and they knew that in many cases their jobs were not going to be there for them to return to. I have encountered situations where people had been in a job for 20 years, for example, in a pub, and they were not sure if that pub was going to reopen. If it did reopen, and the people concerned had taken other jobs in the meantime, where would they stand then in respect of redundancy rights? I am talking about matters like that.

The emergency measures introduced in March 2020 suspended workers' rights to seek redundancy from their employer. When that provision ended on 30 September, workers were left in a situation where they could be penalised under the terms of the Redundancy Payments Act 1967, which does not recognise lay-off periods in the final three years of employment as reckonable service. Under those rules, Covid-19 lay-off periods would not be counted when workers' statutory redundancy was calculated. Thankfully, this Bill will amend that situation and bridge the gap in redundancy payments for those laid off during the Covid-19 pandemic. It is welcome that the Department is acting on this matter, and that it has engaged with SIPTU and ICTU on the issue. There will be quite a bit of that kind of patching up required in the context of the impact of Covid-19.

I note that the original intention was to have this Bill passed before Christmas. Unfortunately, that has not been the case and we are now in a situation whereby some workers have been left without payments for three months. That is a long time for someone to be waiting for a vital payment, and especially over Christmas when household costs are so high. I accept, however, that it takes time to frame legislation and there is a pipeline of legislation. This legislation would have been put on that conveyor belt of Bills.

Staff at the Celbridge Manor Hotel in my constituency received their redundancy notices last November, with the promise that they would receive payments before Christmas. Their state of limbo continues today, and no statutory payments have issued. Indeed, the hotel’s owner has dangled the idea of an extra 10% gratuity being added to their statutory entitlements in exchange for the workers' being legally bound to a gagging clause concerning the matter. This was reported byThe Sunday Business Poston several occasion. I find this situation unacceptable. I have continuously contacted the various Departments involved to try to get some finality in this case. This legislation is therefore extremely welcome, and it must be passed urgently. I wish, though, that there had been some foresight in the context of having this Bill ready for consideration as soon as the suspension of redundancies was lifted.

As I said, however, we are happy to support the Bill. It is welcome. If there is a criticism to be made, it is that if it could have been done sooner, then that would have made a significant difference to people.

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