Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is a rare occasion in many ways. We discussed this issue during pre-legislative scrutiny at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine. One of the recommendations was that this should be looked at. The committee met representatives from farms, industry and the Department. We thought officials from the Department had listened to us. This was one of the issues raised in the committee's published pre-legislative scrutiny report. It is a very significant issue. More than 30 people will lose their jobs because of a Government decision to change its approach. That is life, that is society and that is what happens, but we have to protect those people. We have to protect their livelihoods. We have to step in to make sure we have a just society with a just fund. We often hear about just transition. Where is the just transition for these workers? Two weeks statutory redundancy is not a just transition. That is a real issue.

This is very unusual legislation. I will possibly be corrected by the House, but I do not think we have ever before legislated to abolish an industry in the agriculture sector. This is exactly what we are doing. We are abolishing an industry in the agriculture sector, which is very unusual. As a result, we should step in to make sure those people who have been working in that industry for decades are protected. I do not think we have done that. In fact, we have not. That is very unfortunate for us.

We know the goals of the legislation, but we have to make sure we protect people along that road. There are families looking at this debate who want to know what the Government will do when it comes to the just transition they will go through. These families are not in the most populated parts of the world. I do not speak ill of Kerry, Laois or Donegal, but these are rural locations where jobs do not come in a multiple scenario as they do in urban areas.

We have to protect these people. I do not believe this Bill does anything to protect them. It does not mention them in any appropriate way. We need to rethink how we will protect these people because they deserve that the State protects them along the way. The families who own the farms also need that support. I put it to the Minister of State that she should consider a suitable amendment. The terminology of just transition is something we spoke about in another sphere, but we have forgotten it when it comes to these people.