Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy O'Callaghan for raising this issue with me as a follow-up to our discussion last week, which included Deputy O'Reilly. Constant engagement on this is necessary from all sides in the House.

My thoughts are with the employees of Iceland in all of their stores as well as those mentioned by the Deputy. I completely understand that this year has brought a great deal of uncertainty for the workers, their families and friends. As we previously discussed, I met representatives from Iceland prior to the food recall and appointment of the examiner. Our discussion covered many areas, from grocery prices to the temporary business energy support scheme, TBESS, and energy prices. I made clear that I and my Government colleagues absolutely expect every company operating in Ireland to comply fully with its legal and statutory obligations to its employees.

A robust suite of employment rights legislation is in place to protect employees. I emphasise that workers have statutory rights under a broad range of employment rights legislation. Where employees believe their employment rights have been breached, they have the right to refer complaints to the Workplace Relations Commission for an adjudication and possible redress. The WRC is independent in the performance of its functions.

Ireland has an existing strong legislative restructuring framework for companies. Examinership is overseen by the court and is the main corporate recovery process for companies in Ireland. The process is available to insolvent companies that have a reasonable prospect of survival. The examiner is an officer of the court and must act independently. The Government therefore cannot intervene or comment on this court-supervised process, which has commenced. The Government's key role is to ensure a strong framework of legislative protections for employees is in place and provides a suitable mechanism for them to seek redress where appropriate. I understand from media reports that some employees may have made complaints to the WRC. Therefore, I must respect the independence of the WRC in making its determination in these cases, so I do not want to get into too much detail in that regard.

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