Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. He has been busy introducing legislation and I compliment him on that. Before discussing the Bill, I am interested in his reference to the power of the Labour Court "to initiate a review of the pay, pension and sick pay entitlements of workers of a particular class, type or group in a particular sector and, if it deems it appropriate, make a relevant recommendation to the Minister." Is it not terrible that we, in the political class, cannot apply the contents of the Minister of State's speech throughout the political class? I am aware that an election is imminent. I am speaking about members of local authorities, which is an issue on which I have tabled an amendment. The Minister of State should convey to the Minister with responsibility for this matter the need to address these issues.

I am pleased to note the inclusion of section 20 of provisions covering protection for workers from penalisation by employers. This is a tremendous step forward. I am also pleased that section 30, which deals with the totality of remuneration, has been included because, as the Minister of State pointed out, salary is not the whole story when it comes to these matters.

I rarely speak on issues related to industrial relations policy or legislation without harking back to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, my parent group if one likes. ICTU supports the Bill and wishes to have it enacted as quickly as possible. For this reason, I will not do anything to impede the Bill's passage.

We could argue all day long about what additional protections the Bill could provide, for example, regarding the recognition of trade unions. We could probably try to force legislation through to provide that trade unions become part and parcel of every organisation. However, we live in the real world and those of us who are involved in trade unions are well aware that we have our own market and need to develop negotiation techniques, etc.

This Bill will go a little way towards solving the problems we have seen in companies such as Dunnes Stores. I will not raise any objections during the passage of the Bill as it is a tremendous step forward which has the potential to change industrial relations. I compliment the Minister of State.