David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. Begg to the House. I was one of the Senators who proposed that, as the general secretary of Congress, Mr. Begg should address the Seanad to mark the centenary of the Lock-out. The speech was very good in setting the historical context to allow us to commemorate, remember and pay tribute to working people over the past 100 years and the people involved in the Lock-out for their struggle for workers' rights and the many battles and struggles that took place in Dublin city, across the State and on the island of Ireland. It is fitting that Mr. Begg, as General Secretary of Congress, addresses the Seanad in the centenary year of the Lock-out.

The strike by the Dublin transport workers in 1913 was, as we know, the foundation stone for the Irish labour movement. It was also the foundation stone for that battle for workers' rights in all the years up to the present day. The radicalism of the Lock-out was seen in the 1916 Rising. There have been many different analyses and views of the ideologies that underpinned the actions of the employers and workers of that time and the motivation of those engaged in the 1916 Rising. We need only read the 1916 Proclamation to see that its words were underpinned by socialist and social democratic values, as was the radical programme of the First Dáil. This must be our beacon of hope: that we can have a better society if we implement the words of the Proclamation to cherish all of the children equally. The Proclamation promised equality for the people of this State and of this island. It put equality front and centre.

The Lock-out was characterised by hardship, cruelty, poverty and inhumanity, but in my view these are overshadowed, quite rightly, by the spirit, courage and bravery of the trade union leaders and the workers of the Lock-out. While it is important in this centenary year to remember, to pay tribute and to commemorate, it is also important to accept the reality that here in Dublin and in this State we still do not have the right to bargain collectively, nor do we have trade union recognition rights. We owe it to all the people who were involved in that long struggle for workers' rights to make sure that in the centenary year of the Lock-out we enshrine in Irish law the right to collective bargaining and the right to trade union recognition. I ask for David Begg's opinion on how this can be achieved.

We must also recognise that people being locked out of their jobs and being denied their rights as workers is not confined to 1913. In recent years we saw what happened to theVisteon workers in Belfast, the Waterford Crystal workers in Waterford, the Lagan Brick workers on both sides of the Border and the Vita Cortex workers in Cork. Situations still exist in which working people are denied basic rights. While it is important to commemorate the great sacrifices made and also the gains made by working people, we must look at the challenges facing working people in the here and now and acknowledge that many working families, not just in Ireland but across Europe and the world, are suffering under austerity policies.

David Begg referred to the political aspects and the fact that in the past decades in this State, 80% of the people have voted for parties of the centre right. There is a change taking place in Ireland, North and South, which offers opportunities for socialists and social democrats to work together, whether in the political sphere, the trade union sector or the community and voluntary sector. We have to grasp that opportunity because we must be much more ambitious, as people who are supportive of the labour movement, to ensure that labour and socialist and social democratic policies are those that win out. I ask for David Begg's opinion on some of those issues.