Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response and his understanding that I had to step out. I am disappointed, however, because I am making a clear distinction. I am not asking the Minister of State to negotiate here in the Chamber; I am asking him to agree principles of negotiation. A long-established principle of negotiation in industrial relations is that the allocation of an enhanced redundancy package is agreed based on years of service. For example, some years ago I negotiated a package for a group of workers that guaranteed them six weeks' pay per year of service. The statutory entitlement, as the Minister of State will know, is two weeks' pay. Another package in which I was involved guaranteed nine weeks' pay per year of service.

The point is that the principle is of an enhanced package based on years of service. Let us be clear: I am not asking the Minister of State to negotiate what that package will be; I am simply asking him to be explicit about the principle of how he would go about negotiating that package. The difficulty we have here is clear and it comes back to Senator Boylan's and Senator Lombard's point about what a just transition means. If we cannot establish decent principles as to what a just transition means for when other jobs are lost, which we all acknowledge will happen in rural Ireland, then we will have done a huge disservice to rural Ireland and the communities living there.

I do not see why the Minister of State cannot simply acknowledge that the good principles that have been in existence in industrial relations for many decades will be applied in this case and that an enhanced redundancy package will be negotiated based on additional weeks' pay per year of service. I am not asking the Minister of State to negotiate what the number of additional weeks will be; I am asking him to accept the principle. If it is good enough for the private sector, which it has been for decades, surely to God it should be good enough for this Government, which is closing this industry down.