Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

First, my thoughts at this difficult time are with the 134 Clerys workers and their families, and with the 330 staff employed by the concession stores. They have been treated in a cold and callous fashion and simply cast aside by the new owners, with neither the respect nor dignity they deserve after, in many cases, many decades of service. Since the events of last Friday, I have been engaging very closely on this matter, staying in very frequent contact with trade union representatives over the weekend, and yesterday meeting with the liquidators in the early morning and the workers and their union representatives late yesterday evening.

As I understand it, the background is as follows. In September 2012 Clerys was bought from receivership by Gordon Brothers, a US fund which operates as a purchaser of distressed assets. Gordon Brothers set up a new company structure under OCS Investment Holdings Limited, and the Clerys employees were transferred to a 100% subsidiary, OCS Operations, under a transfer of undertakings with terms and conditions intact. I further understand that the new company structure had a second 100% subsidiary of OCS Investment Holdings limited, OCS Properties Limited, which became the owner of the property.

Last Friday, it was announced that Gordon Brothers had sold their shareholding in OCS Holdings to a new company, Natrium Limited, a joint venture between a Dublin property company, D2 Private, and a London business, Cheyne Capital Management. That afternoon, OCS Operating Limited petitioned the High Court to appoint a provisional liquidator, with the court being told the company was unlikely to have sufficient moneys to make upcoming payments and was unable to pay its debts. Kieran Wallace and Eamonn Richardson of KPMG, whom I met yesterday morning, were appointed by the court. In dealing with the devastating impact of the news on the workers concerned, the liquidator put a team of ten people in place to immediately engage with the workers in those early hours after their appointment on Friday and, to be fair to them, they have been engaging directly and actively since then.

My first priority on hearing the news was to work with my colleague, the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection, to ensure the workers receive their statutory entitlements. Officials from the National Employment Rights Authority, NERA, which comes within the remit of my Department, are working closely with the Department of Social Protection to provide advice and assistance to affected workers. Ireland's employment rights legislation provides protections for employees in difficult situations, such as those directly employed by OCS Operations Limited.

The Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act 1973 requires employers to give notice of termination or to pay employees in lieu of notice, and outstanding wages, holiday pay, commission and bonuses are protected by the Payment of Wages Act 1991. In the event that an employer is insolvent, the employees are entitled to seek payment from the State through the insolvency payments scheme, which is administered by the Department of Social Protection. The employees may also be entitled to payment from this fund in respect of holiday pay, outstanding pay and minimum notice, among other thing.

The Department of Social Protection has assembled a team of people to meet with and advise the workers in regard to entitlements to jobseeker payments, secondary payments, such as rent supplement, and future options in regard to alternative employment, training and education. Arrangements have been made for Department of Social Protection staff and staff of NERA to meet with workers later today in Liberty Hall. In addition, the Department of Social Protection is informing its network of local offices in the greater Dublin area of these developments to ensure that claims from affected workers are processed in a speedy and sensitive manner.

Claims are made through the person legally appointed to wind up the company. Moneys owed up to the appointment of a liquidator are secured by the Social Insurance Fund, subject to statutory limitations. Entitlements are limited to a maximum weekly rate of €600 and there is a limit of eight weeks pay for arrears of pay, sick pay or holiday pay. A representative of the liquidator has verbally advised the Department of Social Protection that all staff have been made redundant and that P45s will issue this week. The liquidator will seek, on behalf of workers, payment from the redundancy payments scheme in respect of statutory redundancy and from the insolvency payments scheme in respect of unpaid wages, accrued but untaken leave and payment in lieu of statutory notice. It is intended that individual meetings will be held between the liquidator and workers affected to determine, on an individual basis, the extent of liabilities. The Department of Social Protection will deal promptly with individual applications submitted in respect of the insolvency payments scheme by the liquidator.

The situation regarding the staff employed by the concessions is somewhat different. I will be meeting later today with representatives from the 50 concessions. Many of those concessions have other outlets, and it may be the case, for example, that staff can be redeployed to other locations. The concession holders have very immediate concerns in regard to directly-owned stock and money which they say is owed to them from their own direct sales proceeds. The liquidator has indicated to me that he will be dealing with these issues as a matter of priority and I understand that stock is to be returned to concession holders later today, which I welcome.

I consider it vital that workers are treated with dignity and respect at all times, and that they and their representatives are consulted on all matters affecting them. There are clearly entities involved in this transaction that did not respect that concept and left it to court-appointed liquidators to do the communicating for them. The liquidators have met with unions. I welcome the fact they will be sitting down with the OCS Operations employees individually to assist them in filling out the necessary forms for their statutory entitlements.

What has happened at Clerys is very shocking indeed and those who are directly employed by Clerys and those who own and work in concession stores have been treated appallingly. Clerys is part of the wider Dublin city centre community and the Clerys building represents an iconic landmark which has played an important part in the life of the city and the country for well over 100 years. I intend to engage with the new owners behind Natrium Limited, who should indicate their plans for the property at an early date and how its employment potential can be maximised. I would go further and say I believe it is incumbent on Natrium Limited to sit down with the staff and their trade unions.