Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is nice to see the Minister of State and I wish him well for his big day on Thursday. There is more or less unified agreement that there has long been a need for the examinership-lite model and that is what the small company administrative rescue process Bill attempts to deliver. There are many welcome aspects of the Bill, which outlines the small company administrative rescue process. However, the success or failure of the process will boil down to two things, namely, speed and cost.

The new process must not only be cheaper than the current administrative process, which is estimated to cost an average of between €80,000 and €120,000, but also needs to be quicker. It is hoped the new process will reduce the costs to between €20,000 and €50,000, which is extremely welcome. Any reduction in costs will be welcome if we can achieve it. However, these costs are only estimates and my concern is that in practice, they could end up being much higher.

As for the length of time the new process will take, it is estimated there may be little reduction in the length of time it takes to conclude the new small company administrative rescue process in comparison with normal administration. As outlined in the legislation, the process could take up to 49 days to produce a rescue plan and it could take even longer to implement it thereafter. At its core, this legislation is about saving companies and, ultimately, saving jobs. Therefore, I feel there needs to be further provision for workers.

It is important that a rescue plan for an eligible company does not include a reduction in the number of employees unless this has been done by agreement with employees and their recognised trade union or representative body, save in the case of a voluntary redundancy process. Any rescue plan should make provision to ensure collective agreements can be and are honoured regardless of what happens to the company into the future.

While this legislation may not get the same coverage as other legislation because it is relevant only to small and micro companies, it is important to remember that these companies provide employment to 788,000 workers in this State. This is significant legislation which, it is to be hoped, will have a wide-ranging and positive impact. The reality is that the pandemic has taken a significant toll on the economy in general, but especially on small and micro companies.

Once Covid-19 restrictions ease this summer and Government support and creditor forbearance reduces, it is clear that a cost-effective restructuring process will be required. Numerous companies with sound business models incur significant debts for many reasons. This new process must put those businesses and their workers front and centre and ensure this new process is cheaper and quicker.

We are discussing liquidations. I need to mention the Minister of State has a report on his desk, the Duffy Cahill report, for many years now. Provision must be made to look after workers in a liquidation scenario. We have had Clerys, Debenhams and TalkTalk closures and a list of other examples. We have seen closures in Limerick at Debenhams and a recent announcement of the Gap store closing in Limerick in September, with the loss of 26 jobs.

Every time this happens, we say we cannot allow it to happen again. I urge the Minister of State to act on the recommendations and select whatever is the preferred option and to talk to the Opposition. We will not do anything other than try to be constructive and get this done. We need to ensure workers are not left high and dry by the process because that will not do anyone any favours. This process will benefit companies and its ultimate objective is to save the businesses and jobs.

There is another body of work to be done to ensure those jobs are decent jobs. That is the work of the trade union movement, working co-operatively with progressive parties like Sinn Féin to ensure we can make work better. We need to recognise that while we have legislation to help save businesses, we also need legislation that protects workers in a liquidation because very often they are left aside.