Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Tánaiste is welcome to the House. I believe this is the first time I have addressed him in this House since he was elected, which was a long time ago. To go back to that dreadful St. Patrick's Day when he addressed us all from Washington or New York at the start of Covid, I was amazed at how quickly he responded to requests from Independents like me who were not party affiliated in any way. Over the period of Covid, I had to make contact with the Tánaiste on a few occasions. On the matter of class K PRSI, which dates from when he was Minister for Social Protection, he listened and made a change. That is his hallmark, as far as I am concerned. I do not often have to call on the Tánaiste but when I do, he responds quickly. I thank him for that.

There is no doubt but that Covid has brought about a huge amount of change to the way we do our business and treat employees. The world has moved on. There are many debates and discussions about the right to work from home and the various other things the Tánaiste addressed while here. No doubt these will be thrashed out over time, hopefully to the benefit of workers. I was rather surprised that it took a Fine Gael Minister to start to change workers' rights as quickly as they have changed in recent times. For that, I compliment the Minister.

As my colleague Senator Ahearn said, there are questions of concern to very small businesses. I had a discussion today with representatives of the Local Jobs Alliance. We were discussing small retailers with two or three employees and how sick leave might impact them. We spoke about small men's shops with one or two employees and how sick pay might represent a substantial cost to such organisations. A small supermarket under any one of the brand names might have two or three employees whereas a shop with the same brand two miles down the road might have 20 employees and comprise quite a substantial organisation. In trying to alleviate some of the problems created by sick pay for some of the very small employers, there is a considerable challenge for the Minister, and for Senators in producing amendments, in establishing where "small" and "weak" start and stop. A shop with three employees could have a turnover of €500,000 per year whereas another shop with three employees could have a turnover of €50,000 per year. There is no doubt that this will cause problems. The Minister adverted to this, as did my colleague Senator Ahearn. I am sure we will have some debate on that.

However, I believe this is a really positive step. It is a great idea. For far too long, employees, particularly the lower paid, were thrown to the wolves. There has been a misconception down through the years that public sector workers have got some sort of golden contract of employment whereby they are well looked after. In my 25 years as a member of the Teacher's Union of Ireland and as its president towards the end, the exploitation of public sector workers was rampant.We changed from appointing teachers to offering hours. We finished up in a situation where the supervisors who work on community employment schemes, which are fantastic schemes that offer a huge amount to their communities, are treated appallingly and have no pension rights. I know that work is being done in that area. A similar point can be made with regard to pension systems for former members of the Defence Forces. This impacts lower ranked people, some of whom work in these Houses. They leave after 25 or 35 years of service, and up to 40 years of service in some cases, with a pension but the moment they take on any public sector employment they start to lose that pension. Whether we like it or not, pension abatement is theft of a pension. I believe it is unconstitutional. The only reason we get away with it is because those unfortunates who are hit by it can never afford to go to the High Court to fight their case. That is something we might do. Maybe at some stage the Tánaiste and I will sit down and have a discussion on that to see whether we can find a way around it.

Overall, I congratulate the Tánaiste for bringing forward legislation that will benefit the workers of this country. I am sure that between us, we will propose a few amendments as this legislation passes through the House. Today is a good day and I hope this legislation passes quickly. I thank the Tánaiste for bringing the legislation to the House.