Gerald Nash (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I spoke to the leader of Fianna Fáil and asked him to support this legislation. He professes that his party is moving towards the centre left. It is a disgrace that his party has refused to support this very modest and far from radical legislation that is in keeping with the industrial relations model in this country and seeks to fix a real problem that affects the lowest paid workers in this State.

I understand entirely the Minister of State's rationale for opposing this legislation. If I hear the phrase "voluntarist model of industrial relations" and talk of how well it has served this country once more, I will not be responsible for my actions. This is a model that is only serving one side of industry in this State. Sometimes the way this House decides to divide beggars belief. I cannot understand the rationale of those Members of this House who claim to represent the interests of people on modest incomes and people who are having difficulty making ends meet. We deal with the fallout of that day in and day out in terms of the housing crisis, access to public services and the cost of education. I understand where the Minister of State is coming from and am familiar with much of the language contained in his script. It is the kind of language I refused to read out in this Chamber when I was a Minister of State because I did not agree with it. Unfortunately, successive Governments have had a long-standing commitment to the voluntarist model. The curtain needs to come down on that model and we need to declare which side we are on.

I remind the Minister of State that in order to get herself out of a political fix regarding English language teachers, the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills, Deputy Mitchell O'Connor, accepted a Labour Party amendment to the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill establishing a joint labour committee to support low-paid workers in a very precarious sector of our economy. On the one hand, this Government believes that joint labour committees can and should work but on the other, it is not prepared to fix an outstanding problem to allow these committees to work in the best interests of working people. This is inconsistent and hypocritical and I will not accept it.

It was interesting that in his response, the Minister of State did not actually point out any constitutional issues surrounding what we are proposing. I said at the outset that this is not a constitutional issue. This is a political and ideological issue. This is merely mechanical. It can be fixed but, politically, this Government, with its allies in Fianna Fáil, has decided it is not prepared to fix it. The Minister of State has declared very clearly, the evidence is there and we now know what side the Government is on. It is about time the people of Ireland understood that.

We spend €430 million per year on the working family payment in this State - money that could be better funnelled into our schools and health system and towards our carers, who are doing remarkable work across this country. Spending €430 million per year on the working family payment is a massive subsidisation of poverty wages and a form of corporate welfare in respect of which this House should collectively hang its head in shame because that is not how we should be spending taxpayers' money. The Minister of State is abrogating his responsibilities to working people by opposing this legislation, which is in the best traditions of industrial relations in this country. We have identified a problem that needs to be fixed. I am not proposing that we merely rush to enable the Labour Court to examine pay and conditions in an industry and present an employment regulation order to the Minister. We are merely using this as a backstop to try to address a dysfunctional element of our industrial relations system that is letting working people and industrial relations in this country down and causing catastrophic situations for people who are dependent on low pay. This needs to be fixed.

Yesterday, the CSO labour force survey was published. It shows that, on average, the workers we are trying to assist by promoting this legislation are on, wait for it, the grand total of €383.75 per week. This is a 39-hour week on the national minimum wage. As this legislation appears set to fall because of the lack of support from Fianna Fáil, ambitions for the lowest-paid workers in this country to make anything above the national minimum wage will be stymied by the actions of Fianna Fáil combined with those of Fine Gael.