Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to come back to the Minister of State on this again because I can understand why people are so worried. To be clear, I do not think I am splitting hairs. The difficulty is that, over many years when the State let people go, it established and respected the principle of an enhanced redundancy package. One example is what has happened regarding the terrible job losses in Shannon Airport in recent years. That always happened on the basis of an enhanced package.

To be clear, if the Minister of State cannot give a commitment that the State will abide by the principle that has been used by the State on numerous occasions, as well as across the private sector, then that leads me to believe the Department does not want to give these people an enhanced redundancy package. That is how it sounds. I am not asking the Minister of State to negotiate anything. Rather, I am asking him to commit to the same principle the State has used on many occasions in terms of an enhanced redundancy package based on weeks per year of service. There is nothing new here. It is a well-established principle. The problem is that if the Minister of State cannot give that commitment to the people affected, regardless of whether he likes it, the message the Department is giving is that people can sing for an enhanced redundancy package.

I have dealt with employers who have not given anything above statutory redundancy. They did exactly what the Department is doing right now. That is how it works. I do not want these people to be under any illusion as to what is happening here today. The Minister of State can change that because he is in charge. He can simply say he is not negotiating anything here but he accepts the principle of an enhanced redundancy package based on weeks per year of service. That commits the Minister of State to nothing other than the principle.

The other difficulty I have is that when we combine the reluctance of the Minister of State to subscribe to that very simple principle with the continual refusal of the Department to negotiate with these people, is it any wonder they have no faith in the process? That leads me to my final question. What is the Minister of State going to do to build confidence for the people in the Gallery today? With the greatest of respect, he has not done it so far.