Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. I am glad there is an employee representative in terms of the creditors group. Of course, he will be aware that many Senators have pushed for employees to be the preferred creditors in situations of company dissolution. That is really important. It may be a step further, but it is a step that may emerge in the legislation the Minister of State may bring forward in the autumn.

As regards the issue of collective agreements, the concern relates to micro companies that, effectively, have one, two or three employees and may not come under that collective redundancy frame. Although there may only be two or three employees, they are nonetheless entitled to be represented by a trade union and should have due and proper processes in terms of their representation. The Minister of State is correct that Ireland has what is referred to as a voluntarist approach.Collective agreements are meant to represent a balancing of power. The idea is that workers who lack the power of capital have the power of numbers and can make their voices heard. The concern about the voluntarism approach is that companies are choosing whether they want to work constructively with workers. That is not effective in creating a constructive workplace.

At a European level, there is a push for better recognition of collective agreements because it is recognised that they contribute to better business and better outcomes for everybody. It is unfortunate that the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Varadkar, is one of those blocking the recognition of collective agreements and blocking collective bargaining measures that have been proposed at EU level. He has written to the EU to block them. We should try to put it into national legislation because, unfortunately, the EU directive measures are being delayed and frustrated. It would have been good to start it at this level so, rather than a trickle-down approach, we begin from the ground up and start getting things right in the smallest companies.

I will make a point in response to the question of what is a small and micro company. The context for the need for this Bill is the fact small and micro companies are under pressure. Part of that context is that, unfortunately, Ireland has prioritised the financial well-being of a small number of large pharmaceutical companies by being one of the handful of countries in the world to resist while 100 countries call for an Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, TRIPS, waiver to accelerate the distribution of vaccines, the end of this pandemic and the reopening of society and of small and micro companies. We are still in limbo, worrying about variants and small and micro companies are, as a result, less able to plan. This is largely as a result of the fact that we are still looking at one or two years for the world to get vaccinated because we are unwilling to say "No" to some big companies. This point was made by the South African ambassadors to the World Trade Organization. They highlighted the economic case for a TRIPS waiver and outlined how moving on this area would free up and speed up the global end of the pandemic and benefit all economies and societies. We have seen small businesses taking a hit for the last year and a half as large companies make billions in profits. The Government is still unwilling to say "No" to the large companies and or to limit their profits temporarily to get society and the economy up and running, support small, medium and micro businesses and, most important, save lives.

It is important to remember there are macro choices here. Although this Bill deals with the small and micro, they are at the end of macro policies at a European level, where Ireland could do better. I know the Minister of State has had a strong position on this but I have to point it out in this context. I urge the Department and the senior Minister to step up and do better on collective bargaining and on a TRIPS waiver.