John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute on this debate. It provides a chance to look back on where we have come from in the past century in terms of workers' rights. It was only 130 years ago that trade unions were first recognised, and how far we have come in the rights that have been achieved since then. It is just 112 years since the infamous Dublin Lockout, led by Jim Larkin and James Connolly. This was a turning point for the rights of workers. In the 1940s and 1950s, we saw the establishment of more structured industrial relations frameworks and employment protections. In 1969, the Industrial Relations Act helped to formalise dispute resolution for the first time. In the 1970s, there was a major development when Ireland joined the European Economic Community, EEC. This brought a wave of new labour standards, including protections against discrimination and improved health and safety laws. Towards the end of the 20th century and up to today, the pace of change has been phenomenal. The 1980s and 1990s have not been mentioned here at all today. These decades saw the development of social partnerships, under my party's leadership. These comprised a number of agreements that shared the wealth and prosperity that were being achieved at the time. They also guaranteed stability and a strike-free environment that allowed the country to prosper and grow. The seeds of economic development and prosperity the like of which had never been seen before in the country were sown at that time. Social partnership was a key part of this. Key legislation, such as the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977, the Employment Equality Act 1998 and the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 all expanded rights around dismissal, equality and working hours. In recent years, issues such as zero-hour contracts, the gig economy and the push for a living wage have helped debates on workers' rights. As of 2024, Ireland continues to align its labour laws with EU directives, particularly in areas such as remote work, gender pay gap reporting and platform work protections.

Today is a day to reflect on where we need to go and the challenges that remain for us. It is also a day to reflect on what we have achieved over a century of freedom, with the right and the ability to make our own laws and to rule our own lives.

The social partnership era that I reflected on was when we had the development of institutions like the National Economic and Social Council, NESC. This has played a crucial role in advising the Government on strategic policy issues, including those related to labour and social partnership.

There have been a number of achievements since 2020 as well. I do not want to go into all of them but I will list some. The minimum wage has increased year on year since that time. We want to see more increases but we also want to protect businesses. Between 2020 and 2025, the minimum wage increased from €10.10 to €13.50, which is an increase of more than one third. The European Communities (Organisation of Working Time) (Defence Forces) Regulations 2025 were signed into law a few months ago. These regulations provide the statutory protection of the Organisation of Working Time Act to ensure that it is now applied to the Defence Forces. Ireland will, as mentioned, develop an action plan to promote collective bargaining, which, under the EU directive on adequate minimum wages, must be submitted to the European Commission by November of this year.

Statutory sick leave was introduced in January 2023. In April 2023, the Government enacted the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act. The European Union's transparent and predictable working conditions regulations came into effect in December 2022. The Payment of Wages (Amendment) (Tips and Gratuities) Act was introduced in 2022. This obliges employers to distribute tips fairly and to prominently display their tip distribution policies. All of these were introduced by the Government.

When I think back over the past century, I think of my late mother and father who came from rural, farming backgrounds. My mother was the first of her generation and her family to win a scholarship for education, which she clearly valued. I was the first male in my family to enjoy a third level education. Most of my nieces and nephews and grand-nieces and grand-nephews all enjoy that choice. Contrary to what people in the Opposition might think, statistically and evidentially, we live longer, we live healthier, we eat better, we live easier, we learn more, we earn more and we are more open to the world as a country. We have cultivated culture and sports. Our society has been strengthened. Over the past century, the lives of women and children have improved, despite challenges. We are increasingly environmentally conscious and we are also one of the best helpers of others in need globally. We are a happier people. How did we achieve this? In his book, In Fact: An Optimist's Guide to Ireland at 100, Mark Henry, looking back at 100 years of democracy in Ireland, notes that Ireland's development has exceeded that of most other nations. Of course, chance played its part but there are other factors. Henry lists four factors that supercharged our success. These are: the investment in educating our people; the strength of our community bonds; the stability of our Government and State institutions; and our opening up to the world, which proved to be the formula needed to enable the country to flourish.

I also share the concerns raised by my colleagues regarding the challenge posed by artificial intelligence, AI. However, it also provides opportunities. Some of the challenges have been outlined. It is already transforming business operations, leading to job losses in multiple sectors. We are aware of this. The impact of AI is no longer theoretical; it is now happening, including here in Ireland. There have been global job and Irish losses, including in Workday which cut 1,750 jobs globally in order to invest in AI and machine learning. As yet, the real impact on Ireland is not clear but the risk is real, due to the presence in Dublin of some major companies. Regarding our specific vulnerability, in June 2024 a report on RTÉ talked about the possibility of almost one third of Irish jobs being negatively affected by AI. Our labour market is more exposed to AI than the advanced economy average at 63% versus 60%. In an article in the Business Post, Government research that the article quoted suggested that more than 800,000 jobs could be at risk over a long period. AI is an issue that should not be taken for granted. The social risks are rising unemployment, income inequality and community instability.

We need to urgently act on that, and some of the things we need to do have been mentioned. The policy priorities that are required, which the Minister mentioned, include reskilling and upskilling the workforce have been done in Ireland before. We are incredibly agile and flexible in this regard. We moved from having a broadly agrarian workforce to one of the most technologically and digitally competent ones in the world. This did not happen by accident. We need to strengthen social safety nets and ensure the adoption of ethical and inclusive AI. The partnership between the Government, businesses, educational institutions and the public worked to build economic prosperity in the past. Every sector of society, from agriculture to trade unions to businesses to enterprise, were involved.

Enterprise gets very little mention here from the Opposition benches. Workers are the engine but enterprise and ideas are what provide jobs for workers to allow them to provide sustenance for their families. We need to continue to engender that to ensure that, in 100 or ten years' time when we look back and reflect on International Workers' Day, we are in as positive position as we are now after a century of hard work.

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