David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

First, I join with Senator Darragh O'Brien and other Members who have expressed sympathy to the families of those young students who died tragically in California. I also wish to raise an issue that has been raised already, namely, that of the Clerys workers, which must be debated in this House. First, I welcome the support that has been expressed and, to be fair, given to those workers by Ministers and Government Senators. Unfortunately, however, Members have been here before and it is a painful reminder of what happened to the workers in Talk Talk in Waterford back in 2011, who also were given extremely short notice and who again were treated shabbily by their former employers at that time. There also have been sit-in protests at Vita Cortex, Waterford Crystal and Lagan Brick, and in many other cases recently. Legislation must be changed to ensure there are much more robust protections for workers, because in the Clerys situation, 130 direct staff will receive only their statutory entitlements. In addition, a further 330 staff who are employed by concession holders face an uncertain future. The former and previous employers have refused to meet the union or the workers themselves. I also attended the protest today to stand in solidarity with the Clerys workers. I spoke to many of them who had been there for 40 years and more and who simply were heartbroken by the manner in which they were treated. While the primary responsibility for this obviously lies with the employer and the disgraceful way in which they were treated, Members' job is to legislate to make sure people are protected. There have been numerous instances where workers have been obliged to engage in sit-in protests. What we need to do is fix the problem, through the introduction of legislation, to ensure that employers cannot walk away from their responsibilities, which they repeatedly seem to be doing in this State. That is not good enough. We can give all the tea and sympathy in the world to the workers in question and to those who were affected in the past but what they want is protection and it is our job and that of our counterparts in the Dáil to provide for it. I support the call that has been made for the appropriate Minister to come before the House so that we might engage in a debate on the legislation which must be put in place to solve these problems and to ensure that much more robust protections for workers will be provided.