Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is still surprising that there are Deputies on the conservative side who really do not understand the struggles of workers in the private sector and how hard it is to get justice at work. I refer to low-paid workers, contract cleaners and people working in nursing homes for a flat fee on 24-hour shifts across seven days who can work any 12 hours in those 24 hours and get paid as little as €11 an hour. When those people ask for more or ask to have any kind of voice at work they are told they will not get hours the following week. That is the reality for thousands of workers across the country right now. It is not good enough. In conclusion, I refer to what Ms Patricia King, president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU, said, namely:

Direct government grants to businesses, in the order of billions of euro must be conditional on a commitment by them to decent work and to retaining their workforce. We must end the scourge of low pay and precarious work and no longer tolerate bogus self-employment that pervades the sectors hardest hit. The race to the bottom must end.

We have had years of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments. It makes no difference. It is good to see them both on the same benches now at last. At least that charade is over. They talk about workers rights but never actually do anything. We have a simple request, a right to collective bargaining, which is established already across most of the EU. We should have it in this country. Now is exactly the right time and the right opportunity to link it to support for businesses so that we can have decency at work and decent pay as well.