Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I disagree with the Deputy on that. There are quite a lot of protections under our employment laws and we expect any company, no matter what it is, to work within those laws. I gave commitments in regard to other situations last year, including that of the Debenhams workers, that we would look to see whether we can strengthen the laws in any situation where a company is being sold or bought out or where redundancies arise.

We are working on that. However, it is untrue to say that workers are not protected. Many people choose to work in Ireland because they feel they are protected. The laws are clear and are black and white.

In this situation that the Deputy outlines, on which I do not have any information, there are protections in place to protect them. It is not true to say that it is inevitable that this will go south or that it will go wrong. That is not true. I am familiar with many situations which have worked extremely well. Of course, I am familiar with other cases where it did not. However, it is wrong to always portray in here that doom and gloom is always inevitable. I do not know the situations and I will not comment on this case, but protections are there. I would imagine, as the Deputy has referenced, that a union is involved here. I would therefore presume that negotiations will be under way for the next number of weeks. I hope that those employees take advice, guidance and check out all the rules and regulations that are there to protect them.

We are proud of our labour laws in this country. We have the Workplace Relations Commission, we have the Labour Court and other areas where we can monitor those restrictions-----

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