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

We need to move quickly on this. As the Tánaiste stated, trade union density is at a low level and that means protection for workers is at a low level because the two things are interlinked.

An issue that is not expressly related to this but on which the Tánaiste and I have corresponded previously is that agencies that are funded by the Government are also ignoring Labour Court recommendations when they do not have the funds to respond. That makes a mockery of the system. The quicker we can move to a system of collective bargaining and recognition, the better. As the Tánaiste stated, we may have different views on how that might be done, but we need to expedite this legislation because workers have waited a very long time for this. Trade union density being at its current level means that protection for workers is at a low level and that needs to change. Many of the practices that could be stamped out by having collective bargaining and strong unionised workforces were exposed during Covid. We need to move quickly on this.

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