Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)

Gabhaim buíochas leis an nGrúpa Teicniúil um Neamhspleáigh agus Páirtithe as ucht an Bille seo a thabhairt os comhair na Dála. We in the Social Democrats are happy to support this Bill. I speak first to some of the comments made by the Minister of State's colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, in his response to this legislation. I wish to push back especially on the continued narrative we hear that the Constitution essentially says "No". I wish to draw the Government's attention to something I did two weeks ago when we were celebrating International Workers Day. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, an organisation I previously worked in, commissioned independent research in December 2023 that put paid to this idea. It asked whether the Constitution was a barrier or a facilitator to the rights of collective bargaining. Referring to its determination, I will read the final conclusion. I urge the Government and Deputy Lawlor, who just spoke about the Geoghegan ruling, which is gone into in detail in the report, to take note of it. It states:

We therefore conclude that Constitution is not a barrier to a statutory right to collective bargaining, and that no constitutional change would be necessary to facilitate a statutory right of this sort. The legislature is free to pursue such a course, having careful regard to safeguards that would ensure all other relevant constitutional rights and principles are respected.

I appreciate that within the response, the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, was speaking to the specifics of this Bill. I put it to the Minister of State before us that there is a consistent pushing back that the Constitution is a barrier to the realisation of these rights, but it is not. The Government must get on board with this.

The second point I wish to touch on concerning the comments made by the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, is what he said about the voluntarist system, which he believes serves us so well. The phrases he used included "This long-standing tradition of a voluntarist system has served us well through the decades", "The voluntarist system of industrial relations allows for tailored solutions" and "the voluntarist system has contributed to industrial peace and stability." I think there is a bit of a typo there, though, because it has served us well as employers, not as workers and not as the State. This is the issue I have with the Government's approach to workers' rights. We are told the barriers to workers' rights include the challenges for businesses to get up and running and meet all their obligations, and we appreciate that the Government has pursued a supportive programme of measures for employers and businesses. We agree with that in the Social Democrats and do not see any barrier to it. What we do have an issue with is the imbalance. Similar commitments are made to workers, which, sadly, are never delivered upon. One after the other, we see this happening again and again.

The reality is that we are out of step in continuing to support such a voluntarist model. The Bill speaks to the beginning of moving to a situation where employers must recognise trade unions and the right to collective bargaining. In the European Union, we have a goal of 80% of collective bargaining coverage, but Ireland's rate stands at just 34%. If employers do not want to recognise trade unions, then they simply do not have to. This speaks back to the imbalance of power. I have worked in the private sector and the public sector and have been self-employed. As long as employers do not have to, they are not going to pursue anything that is going to affect their bottom line. This is just how the profit-making world works. The State, therefore, has to provide these supports for workers.

This situation speaks to the fact that, as a country, we have a long-standing tradition of trade unionism despite the poor record of Government. Tá tábhacht na gceardchumann fite fuaite i stair na hÉireann. Caithfimid foghlaim ón stair sin. We need to learn from that history and that is why the Social Democrats will be supporting this Bill.

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