Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I accept that the Minister is not accepting the amendment and I will not delay the House too long on that matter. The Minister's position is very clear. I have found some comfort in her words in respect of the required skill set. There is a tried and tested formula in legislative matters like this where it absolutely affects workers and their livelihoods. There is plenty of precedent, as I have outlined on Committee Stage, for a specific ICTU representative to be appointed to that board, as they have been to previous boards. If the Minister is not accepting the amendment, I ask her to have due regard to the mandate that ICTU has and the recognition that it has in Irish society on issues of this nature going back decades upon decades. I do not need to highlight for the Minister issues like social partnership and so on. The key role that ICTU plays in representing the interests of Irish workers is absolutely paramount to the workings of Irish society as it relates to workers' terms and conditions of employment. Perhaps the Minister would give due consideration to giving a place to a representative of ICTU on that board. I respectfully say to her that anybody who goes on that board, from ICTU or any other organisation, will be instinctively aware of their duties and responsibilities to the board in question. ICTU has a very solid record in that regard as well.

See this speech in context