Ivana Bacik (Labour) | Oireachtas source

As I said earlier, I take the Minister of State's point about the Revenue Commissioners' powers. I pay tribute to the Revenue Commissioners for the speed with which they turned the scheme around in the first place. We are all conscious of the immense work done by public servants in Revenue, in the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection and elsewhere to ensure that schemes and supports were in place for people who were left bereft and economically devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

While I take the Minister of State's point, there was a way of engaging constructively with us as we seek to engage with him in order to ensure that the spirit of this recommendation could have been reflected in the legislation and to address the concern we have as it was addressed elsewhere, such as in section 28B. As others pointed out, we must also be mindful that the hospitality and tourism sector has been very badly hit by the pandemic and by closures. There has been an issue within that sector where a significant number of employers refuse to engage with joint labour committees. An ESRI report published this week shows that workers in the sector are at high risk of contracting Covid-19 and other conditions that may cause increased complications.

We are conscious of the need to ensure protections for workers, especially in sectors that are being badly hit by Covid-19. We are conscious of the need to ensure that there are adequate measures in place for workers to be represented. The Competition (Amendment) Act already provides a mechanism for engagement, particularly where there are vulnerable freelance workers and fully dependent self-employed people, as they are referred to in that Act. We brought that legislation forward in this House with support from across the floor and working constructively with the then Minister and the officials. Senator Gavan is right that whenever we raise the need to ensure workers' rights and protection for collective bargaining, there tends to be a push back from the Government saying that the legislation being discussed is not the right means to achieve that. I am glad this is the right legislation in which the Government has put protections in respect of lay-offs and short-time working. It is also the right legislation in which to put protections in respect of the right to representation and in which to include - and copper-fasten - protections on collective bargaining.That is all too often left aside and, as a result of it, we see workers in particular sectors remaining prone to low pay and precarious conditions such as the involuntary short-time and temporary working practices to which I referred. This is the type of problem we are seeking to address in our recommendation. It is a principle that is worth supporting even if the Minister of State quibbles, as he may well do, with the mechanism we propose to put in place to address it. We had similar issues in regard to the gender pay gap legislation, for example, but we have always been happy to amend the way in which we are seeking to address a problem, once we see it is being taken seriously and addressed by Government. That is the spirit in which I propose the recommendation.