Gerald Nash (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I was delighted to have had the opportunity to enable this Bill at an early stage to pass through the Cabinet approval process during the previous Government's term. Senator James Reilly was a member of that Government too. Success has many fathers and, indeed, mothers. Many people in this Chamber have played a role in bringing this legislation to this point today. I thank the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Mary Mitchell O'Connor, for the fact her door was always open and that she took little convincing about the necessity of this legislation passing. I also thank her departmental officials for their consistent engagement with Senator Ivana Bacik to ensure we have legislation that is workable, practical and constitutionally robust.

I recall other colleagues involved in the development of legislation of this nature in recent years. Our former colleague, Emmet Stagg, attempted in 2012 to get similar legislation passed but, unfortunately, it did not make it through the process. As Senators Ivana Bacik and Paul Gavan said this is an important day for new politics and progressive politics. This Chamber has shown its better self in working together to achieve a positive objective for working people. Ultimately, we are here to represent the interests of citizens of this country. For several years, we have all been concerned about the rigid determination made by the then Competition Authority in the application of European Union competition law in this regard. I said in this Chamber previously that EU directives and regulations in this respect have been overly, literally and rigidly applied to many of those sitting in the Gallery today. I do not believe when these regulations were being drafted by the European Commission that it had Irish session musicians, freelance journalists and others in mind. It was dealing with regulating major utility and telecom companies and others.

Accordingly, it is important we can express ourselves in this Chamber, address deficiencies in the interpretations of our laws and see them amended. What we are about is trying to improve living standards for our people. Ultimately, this legislation, collectively viewed with other legislation which will be passed over the next couple of years by the Minister, will see improvements to people's living standards, their opportunities to provide for themselves and their families, as well as to participate fully in our society as active citizens in the economic sectors in which they are involved and work.

It is important to point out this is constitutionally robust legislation. Some legislation in the employment rights field was struck down as unconstitutional in recent years, such as joint labour committee and registered employment agreement legislation. We have reformed and reconstituted this legislation in recent years to make it constitutionally robust. I can see a thread and a pattern in this Bill where those lessons have been learned. Some of the consequent formulae have been applied to this legislation regarding the importance of ministerial orders and laying matters before the House. It is important the Houses of the Oireachtas have a role in terms of legislation like this. Those deficiencies have been addressed and the repairs we have provided are reflected in this legislation.

Having scrutinised this Bill and the Minister's amendments, it can be argued this is future-proofed. The world of work is changing rapidly. Industrial sectors that we have not yet imagined will be born soon. We need to be nimble and be able to react to them. There is sufficient flexibility in this legislation to ensure new categories of workers which might emerge in the future are catered for in the context of the protections and supports they need. Most important, this Bill will ensure the right to be collectively represented and the right to collective bargaining in one's workplace in one's interest to improve one's living standards and opportunities, as well as, ultimately, delivering fairness and decency in every workplace.