Frances Black (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise two issues today. The first is that of the Debenhams workers. We cannot forget about them and their appalling treatment by Debenhams. The workers have been picketing the stores since April for a just redundancy settlement of four weeks' redundancy per year of service. The workers are showing great resilience in their fight for fairness and have rightly rejected as insulting the offer made by the liquidator KPMG. Debenhams should not be allowed to walk away from its obligations and claim inability to pay a fair redundancy to workers who have given years of service to the company. The workers have been resolute in their determination in mounting pickets on the stores to halt the transfer of the stock to the British stores. As the trade unions have suggested, the Government should introduce a statutory scheme under which the State would pay workers enhanced levels of redundancy payments, provided for in the collective agreements in cases involving companies that go into liquidation, such as Debenhams. I would like the Minister to come to this House and give us an assurance that the Government will pass new legislation to ensure that no more workers have to go through a similar situation.

Second, I must raise the apparent ignoring by Britain of international law in its Brexit negotiations. The shared island unit that was set up should give assurances to the people in the North that they will be subject to the protections of international law. I was contacted by an Irish citizen living in the North who asked if she could now legitimately ask for a Border poll so she could be assured that she lives under international law and that it will be applied. She also said that "all arguments that this is not the right time or in any way contentious have just been blown out of the constitutional water". The concerns expressed by people over this latest statement must be addressed by the Irish Government as a co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement. I ask the Minister to come in here and give an assurance that the new unit will be composed of representatives of all groups who have been working towards a shared Ireland, as it is deeply worrying when one of the parties to the Good Friday Agreement feels it is no longer bound by international law.