Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)

Cuirim fáilte roimh an mBille seo. Is maith an rud é go bhfuil sé ag iarraidh cearta oibrithe a threisiú sa tír seo. Le fada an lá, ní raibh cearta ná cumhacht ag oibrithe in aghaidh go leor comhlachtaí. Dá bharr, chaill go leor dóibh a gcuid tuarastail agus a gcuid slite beatha.

Aontú is committed to justice in the workplace and the right of all workers in Ireland, North and South, to fair pay for a fair day's work and fair living conditions. We affirm the dignity of work and the right of workers to equitable pay and working environments. Low pay and precarious work affect the lives of thousands of workers in this country. In many sectors, workers are treated without respect and have limited guarantees and paid hours. There always needs to be a balance between the rights of employers and the rights of workers to make sure that employers can build their businesses and make a profit and a livelihood for themselves and to ensure that workers are not exploited.

The stated objective of this Bill is "to amend the Protection of Employees (Employers’ Insolvency) Act 1984 ... [to protect] employees in the event of the insolvency of their employer". This is a good objective. It is obviously a tragedy for employers who have struggled to keep a business afloat to lose that business but they also have a moral responsibility to trade in a manner that allows them to fulfil their responsibilities to their employees in the event of insolvency and that has not always been the case. Workers cannot be expected to give loyalty, effort and work to a company if that company does not protect those workers in return.

I welcome aspects of the Bill but one of the big difficulties I have is that there is not enough enforcement in this country. All the legislation will not make a whit of difference if the Government does not enforce it. In my experience, there has been a complete absence of enforcement in this country for many years. I first became a TD at a time when there was an avalanche of tactical insolvencies in this country. For many years after the crash, many businesses traded in a manner that did not allow them to meet their responsibilities to protect their employees or tactically separated resources from companies that were exposed to responsibilities to their staff. That was done in a large number of cases and the Government never sought to enforce anything. I refer to La Senza, Paris Bakery, Clerys and Debenhams, which was the latest example. That was facilitated by providing for a corporate veil. That corporate veil allowed companies to hold two separate legal identities for different aspects of their business in certain situations. Clerys was restructured in 2012. In 2015, the operations element of the company became insolvent while the resources element did not have a responsibility to look after the workers. This obviously left workers stuffed as regards their incomes but it also left the State on the hook to a great degree because the State had to step in to provide funds for workers. That is still a major difficulty in this country.

Another issue that has caused significant damage is the issue of bogus self-employment. A large number of people, especially in the period from ten years ago up to five years ago, were employed forcibly as self-employed people. This reduced employers' responsibilities in respect of sick pay, holiday pay and other supports. It also cost the State hundreds of millions of euro because the State lost PRSI and tax contributions as a result. The Government had an enforcement section within the Department but there was precious little enforcement ever. I would struggle to say whether any prosecutions came out of that whole period. Whatever legislation is put through here, we need to make sure there is strong enforcement and that companies are not allowed to separate resources from responsibilities. The idea that companies would close and then reappear very quickly, a number of years later, with the same people, the same board of directors and so on and carrying out practically the same work but having shed their responsibilities to workers is another three-card trick that should not be allowed.

Every worker in this country should have a constitutional and legal right to become a member of a trade union. Trade unions are a natural part of the balance between employers and employees. If that relationship is imbalanced and if either side has too much power, workers' rights will not be fulfilled and businesses will not be able to trade and operate properly. The fact that this right is denied to many workers is still a problem in the law.

Guím gach rath ar an mBille seo. Táimid ag iarraidh díriú isteach ar go leor athruithe ag Céim an Choiste agus níos déanaí ach is céim chun tosaigh é agus táimid ag iarraidh go mbeidh sé curtha i bhfeidhm go luath.

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