Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to join with the Tánaiste in thanking the members of the group. I want to particularly thank Patricia King, the outgoing general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, a former colleague and, indeed, a very good friend of mine. I wish her well in her retirement. I also wish Owen Reidy, the incoming general secretary, well. He has much work to do.

The Tánaiste’s answer does not fill me with an awful lot of optimism that this will get moving quickly. We need to expand the percentage of workers who are covered by some form of collective bargaining. It is clear that we need legislation to be able to facilitate this. It is not our job as legislators to organise workers; we know that. However, it is our job to create the conditions for workers to be able to organise. As I have said many times on the floor of the Dáil Chamber and in other places, the best way for a worker to ensure that his or her voice is heard at work is to join his or her trade union and be active in it. Unfortunately, however, the system as it currently stands facilitates employers effectively ignoring not just their trade union, but the will of their own workforce.

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