Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Fair play. So is the Leader. I begin by wishing my comrades in the North well today. As the only 32-county party in the Chamber, we are very proud of our comrades in the North and we hope we get a good mandate today for our calls for equality, inclusiveness and a real start to a new government in the North. I hope we can take an important step on that road today.

As the Leader knows, we are also a party concerned with worker rights. I raise a particular issue that has been raised in the Chamber before, which is the ongoing strike at the Hastings garage in Westport. This dispute is of great concern and there are men on their fourth week of strike. They have stood out in all weather for the past four weeks and their cause is absolutely just. The Labour Court has declared they should get a decent redundancy payment but the Tim Hastings garage has refused point blank to implement that recommendation. These people on strike have exhausted the industrial relations machinery of the State and I will speak to three aspects of the issue.

The first is the role that Volkswagen Ireland should be playing in this dispute. This is one of its dealers and it is a partner of the Hastings garage. Unfortunately, to date it has decided to hide and it refuses to answer e-mails or phone calls. It wants the issue to go away but the message I want to give here very clearly is that Volkswagen has a role to play in it. For every day this strike continues to go on, it is a day of shame for Volkswagen Ireland for not fulfilling its responsibilities to the workers who have given a life of service to the Tim Hastings garage. I call on Volkswagen Ireland to come out from its hiding place, face up to its responsibilities and play a constructive part in resolving this dispute.

The second issue I raise is the silence of public representatives from Mayo because, to be frank, the only representative to date who has tried to engage and build a solution is my colleague, Senator Rose Conway-Walsh.I have been stunned by the silence of Fine Gael representatives in particular - there are quite a few of them in Mayo - and, indeed, those in Fianna Fáil for that matter. I have to ask the question - and I hope I am wrong in raising this issue - is the reason that Fine Gael will not engage on this issue because the garage happens to be owned by the Taoiseach's brother-in-law? Is that the reason for the silence? I am being clear. This is something that has to be raised because-----