David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the fact that industrial action undertaken by over 100 construction workers in Waterford over the past number of days has come to an end and agreement has been reached between the main contractor on the site and the workers. Over 200 workers were working on the site. The issues that led to the strike will not go away. There is widespread anger in the construction sector that a lot of subcontractors are employing people but paying well below the construction rates. This is particularly that case with people from outside the country. This exploits workers from outside Ireland and should not happen.

All workers, regardless of whether they are from Poland, eastern Europe or anywhere else, should be paid the same rates as Irish workers and there should be no exploitation of workers in these areas. There is no doubt that it does exist. Since the employment regulation orders and registered employment agreements were dismantled, there has been no registered agreement in the construction sector. A sectoral agreement needs to be put in place. The problem is that the contractors and developers do not want to sign an agreement. They want to continue the lower rates of pay and do not want agreed rates. If that is not put in place, I fear we could have more industrial action as we progress. As there is some sign of a recovery and there are more promises in terms of capital investment, we must make sure we can ensure that all these developments can go ahead and that workers are treated and paid fairly.

I ask the Leader to raise with the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the issues that led to this industrial action and the need for a sectoral agreement to be put in place to protect construction workers and to ensure that we have decent rates of pay and that no construction companies can exploit foreign or domestic workers. I am sure Senators from across the House would agree with that. I would appreciate it if the Leader could communicate that directly to the Minister.