Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)

Fastway workers, subcontractors and franchisees were left high and dry last week. Some of them are outside the gate today and some of them are in the Gallery with Deputies Ruth Coppinger and Paul Murphy. They were told they would not be paid during the 30-day receivership period. It is eight weeks before Christmas. They cannot apply for another job. They cannot get jobseeker's allowance. They are afraid to take supplementary welfare allowance without having written confirmation that it will not affect their redundancy. There are serious questions as to how we can allow companies to operate like this in the first place. Will the Minister tell me today what precisely Ministers are doing to protect these workers, the small businesses and the road haulage companies that have suffered acute losses? What is the Government going to do to get the 50,000 parcels delivered to customers who are waiting for those parcels?

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