Joe O'Toole (Independent)

In spring last year Senator Ross and I put down a motion in the House concerning auctioneers and auctioneering and the need for regulation. It was accepted by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Michael McDowell, who acted on it by setting up a review committee which has now reported. We have not seen the report yet but we are aware he will propose a regulatory system for auctioneers. This initiative came from the House, was developed and has borne fruit. I look forward to the next stage.

The Irish Ferries dispute has raised many fundamental issues and I am concerned that we are not seeing the wood for the trees in the matter. Industrial relations only work if everybody takes part in the process; if this does not happen we are in trouble. The last piece of legislation relating to this which was passed and which made the process somewhat voluntary, putting people on their honour, can be ignored. The Labour Court should be given the authority and right to compel people to attend and subpoena people, whether these people represent unions or companies. The people can argue the case when there is so much at stake.

The main issue with the Irish Ferries dispute is that if a similar practice takes off in the economy, we will witness an erosion of standards of living and work that have been won and developed through hard work at all levels, from management to workers and all those in between. Greater wealth was created in this country, it was spread out and standards of living were improved. Even people in this House benefitted from benchmarking and other schemes that came from such a process. The work is about to be usurped. If this happens, every part of the economy will be affected and we will start going backwards. It will be a case of "back to the future".

Last year I raised the issue of the flags of convenience under which some ships operate in our ports. In many cases, these ships are no more than institutionalised sweat shops where normal health and safety practices are completely ignored or left unimplemented. This issue does not help us, and the Irish Ferries dispute should be debated and discussed, leading to certain definite conclusions from Government. I would welcome a debate on the matter.