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

The committee honed in on the lack of protection for trade union activity. I understand, not because of anyone sitting opposite but because we will be compelled by the European Union, that we will bring in legal protections for union organising and representation. Currently, without the protection from discrimination for trade union activity, it is impeding on workers' capacity to organise. It means that if we cannot comply with that, workers are left in a situation where they cannot organise and cannot then vindicate those rights. Something I have raised on more than one occasion is the issue of An Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces being kept out of normal trade union activity. Members of either still cannot strike. That is one thing that we were found to be in breach of. Where we have been found in breach, will the Government address it line by line and ensure we are in compliance? I assume it is the ambition of the Government to ensure that we are in compliance and that the next report will find that we are substantially compliant and will not have to deal with this.

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