Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

When the film "La Haine" was released, then French Prime Minister, Alain Juppé, organised a special screening and instructed his cabinet to attend so that they might learn something about alienation in the Parisian suburbs. Will the Taoiseach organise a special screening for his Cabinet of the new film documentary, "406 Days", which premieres at the Dublin International Film Festival this Saturday night and deals with the outrageous treatment of workers in this country by a multinational company? The company in question is Debenhams and the 406 days referred to in the title is the number of days that workers were forced to walk the picket lines for justice. The Taoiseach and his Ministers might well blush in the darkness should they organise such a screening, as the failure of the Government to act in defence of those workers is apparent throughout. Will the Taoiseach now avail of the opportunity afforded by the launch of this film to say loud and clear that the Debenhams Bill, which aims to improve workers' rights in a liquidation situation and ensure that such a scandal never happens again in this State, will now pass quickly through these Houses and into law?

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