Marie Sherlock (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge yesterday's announcement of the Government's intention to undertake a review of company law as it relates to redundancies and insolvencies. I ask the Leader to arrange a debate with the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation on the legislative requirements associated with redundancies and liquidations. It is important that we contribute to that review. It is incumbent on the House to make our views known.

For many months the Leader has listened to numerous Members talk about the shameful treatment of Debenhams workers and the fears that so many more workers will also find themselves losing their jobs and trying to access their enhanced redundancy payments in coming months. Debenhams workers on Parnell Street and elsewhere in the country will say they have maintained their presence outside their former place of work for more than 200 days because they do not want what happened to them to ever happen to anybody else. They are doing it for themselves, but also for everybody else.

It is incumbent on us to have a debate in this House. I do not want to prejudge the outcome of that review. Along with other Members, I attended the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment yesterday at which Mr. Kevin Duffy and Ms Neasa Cahill outlined their recommendations for the review. In response to a question from me, they confirmed that the recommendations in the Duffy Cahill report can be fully implemented within the confines of employment law changes.

I do not want this company law review to be a box-ticking exercise further to the commitment made in the programme for Government. It could happen that they go through what are the perceived changes needed in company law, identify that no changes are needed and then we move on. That will simply not be good enough. We need changes. The Duffy Cahill report was produced four years ago and has been sitting on a shelf waiting to be implemented. There are clear recommendations on how it can be implemented within employment law.

This week I received an email from a very upset business owner. What does the Government have against circuses?