Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of Labour, I want to begin by joining with others in sending our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of the late Christy Dignam, in particular his wife Kathryn and his family. He will be greatly missed for his immense contribution to Irish music, society and culture. I also want to express my sympathies on behalf of Labour to the family of John Murphy. John was one of two men who suffered severe injuries at a Cork Stryker plant in April and he sadly died last week. Our thoughts are with his family and friends too.

Last night, in an announcement that was a surprise, it is fair to say, and a shock, 650 workers at Tara Mines were informed that they would be laid off temporarily. I express solidarity with all those involved, not just the 650 directly affected but the maybe 2,000 people whose livelihoods we know will be indirectly impacted as a result of what has happened. Management has cited inflation as a factor underpinning this decision. Inflation affects workers too. As Michael Fitzgerald, a SIPTU shop steward for the miners, said, "The cost of living is hurting everyone. It might be hurting the company, but it's hurting us as well." He is right. Management at Tara Mines has been happy to capitalise on the hard work of its employees in Louth and Meath, yet when times get tough, it has socialised its debts and put its workers out to pasture. The Government is presiding over a social welfare system that is not fit to protect workers from the worst impacts of the loss of livelihood. This is because there is no meaningful, modern scheme to support and keep them in work.

This is the latest in the series of layoffs since the Minister, Deputy Coveney, took office in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. It has been stated that the layoffs at Twitter sparked a positive change in thinking in Government Buildings on workers' rights. I should hope so, given that workers' rights receive no stand-alone treatment in the programme for Government. We know that more is needed to support workers in these situations. I want to outline two constructive proposals from Labour and SIPTU. I would like to hear the Taoiseach's response to both. The first is the reform of our welfare system, which is out of kilter with those in mainstream Europe. As Adrian Kane of SIPTU stated, the workforce at Tara Mines have the normal outgoings that so many are struggling with in the cost-of-living crisis, including high rents and mortgage payments and grocery, energy and childcare costs. These workers face a huge drop in income when they go on social welfare, as anyone who does the sums will see. In our submission to the public consultation on jobseeker's benefit, Labour called for a welfare system which would index workers' income up to 60% for six months minimum, with a floor beneath which no one can fall. Will the Government implement that proposal as part of the budget? Second, I ask him to answer another call, which Deputy Nash, Senator Marie Sherlock and all of us in Labour have been making, for the introduction of a short-term working scheme modelled on the employee wage subsidy scheme and the German Kurzabeitscheme to protect working people who are laid off and provide State subsidies to pay workers when their employers encounter difficulties. Will the Government introduce these two measures to protect those in the situation that we see the workers in Tara Mines in today, and if so, when?

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