Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Today is a good day. It is nice to see the shops open. I was on Grafton Street early this morning picking up a couple of things. At the same time, it struck me that we had some bad news yesterday as we have already heard about the Arcadia Group. I have genuine concerns. Another 500 jobs are at risk with another dubious enterprise in terms of its management and ownership. There is a huge hole in this company's pension fund while the owner enjoys himself on his €100 million yacht.

The real concern is that we have been speaking for four years on the Duffy Cahill report. I am a member of the committee that dealt with the issue last week. I have real concern that there does not seem to be an urgency in the Department to deal with the Duffy Cahill proposals. They have been outstanding for four years.

We heard on "Morning Ireland" earlier that there will be, unfortunately, a significant number of redundancies in retail early in the new year. However, there is still no action from the Government. We know the plight of the Debenhams workers. I know there are talks this week and everyone wants to see a good resolution for all concerned. We are only going to repeat this, however.

We are well capable of passing emergency legislation quickly when it is needed in this House and the Lower House. What is frustrating is that five months after the programme for Government, there has been no emergency legislation to protect retail workers. All of us must ensure that before this tsunami is upon us early in the new year, we take urgent action to implement the Duffy Cahill proposals and build in protections for retail workers. Otherwise, how can we look anyone in the face and use the well-worn phrase that we are all in this together? Retail workers are not included in protections that they desperately need. We need to ensure that happens. I call for an urgent debate on the matter, as well as for urgent action from the Government.