Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Employment (Collective Redundancies and Miscellaneous Provisions) and Companies (Amendment) Bill 2023. The debate is good and positive. I have been following it in my office and in committee rooms throughout the afternoon. I fully support the Bill and Fianna Fáil in government fully supports it. It will further enhance the protection of employees in a collective redundancy scenario. This Bill delivers on a promise in the programme for Government and serves to implement the remaining commitments in the plan of action with regard to collective redundancies following insolvency.

This Bill also amends the Protection of Employment Act 1977, which governs collective redundancy rules. These amendments will enhance transparency for employees of employers who become insolvent, and will expand the avenues of redress available to employees in a collective redundancy scenario.

The last element of great merit in this Bill is that fact that it amends the Companies Act 2014 and improves the quality and the amount of information circulated to workers when they are creditors. I recently saw in my constituency that the Iceland store in Shannon town centre closed its doors with very short notice. A text message went out to all employees at 5 p.m. saying they needed to pack their bags, empty their lockers, head home at 5.30 p.m. and that was the end of that. Therefore, we need to look at how workers are treated and what information circulates thereafter. Elected representatives will gladly at any time go to meet employees who have been made redundant but that should not be the first port of call. There should be plenty of high-quality information and plenty of supports available to workers. There is a big disparity, of course, between workers who are unionised and those who are not. I hope that last element of the Bill, which seeks to amend the Companies Act 2014, will improve that chasm of information. It is information people desperately need when they face a collective redundancy.

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