Seanad debates

Tuesday, 13 July 2021

Companies (Rescue Process for Small and Micro Companies) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages

 

9:30 am

Photo of Alice-Mary HigginsAlice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will be very brief. Employees and employers are not being talked about in a simplistic or polarised way. It is a matter of recognising all these elements. The Minister of State has engaged very constructively and recognised that there are issues with how we manage employees. Yes, when we look at a company we should look at the employers and the employees not in a polarised way but in a way that makes sure both are represented. I know there are great companies in which everybody has made sacrifices, and employees and employers have done impossible things together to keep those companies going. However, I also know of other examples. I can think of one, a butcher's shop owned by one person, where the person who everybody thought owned it, who was there for 40 years and who is everybody's friend and the reason people went to the shop was, it turns out, just an employee for 30 years. When it went under, he got nothing. In many cases the right thing will be done. The reason we have laws and the reason the Minister of State has indicated he will look at how he can further improve employees' rights laws in the autumn - and I welcome that - is that we put laws in place for the generality as a safety net. Of course, we hope those laws will not be needed. This is a constructive debate and I thank the Minister of State for his constructive engagement on it.

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