Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I concur with Senator Bacik's comments. In terms of the amendments to which she refers, many were written before the closure of Grafton College. Often on this side of the House we table amendments and are accused of doing so to try to prevent events that will never happen. We are often told we are scare-mongering, that what we fear will never come to pass, that the sector is well regulated and so forth. Today in the Public Gallery we have people who literally have no job in the run-up to Christmas. They are now engaging with the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection in order to get payments to survive over the Christmas period because a hand-written note was put on the door of the educational institution in which they worked. When we table amendments, we are not doing so to cause trouble or to try to embarrass anybody. We are doing it because we know these sectors well and are trying to protect workers' rights. I know the Minister of State will appreciate that and will work with us to ensure that incidents like this never happen again.