Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 42:

In page 7, line 30, to delete “class C” and substitute “class A”.

I think this is the only point where the Minister of State and I are going to disagree. I disagree fundamentally because I am genuinely puzzled as to why it is only a class C fine, as in a fine of €2,500, that can be applied. Let us be honest here that contravention of sections of this Bill equate to employers stealing money from their workers. We have seen such instances uncovered time and time again through WRC investigations. Often one sees it labelled in the media as "recovery of unpaid wages". That is a nice way to spin stolen wages but that is what it is. In the last decade alone, nearly €18 million in stolen wages was returned to workers after WRC investigations. Indeed, this disgusting practice has been escalating in recent years, with nearly €9 million being recovered for workers in the period 2018-20. The withholding of wages is especially rampant in sectors where women and migrant workers are heavily employed, those being the food and drink, retail, nursing and childcare sectors. These are the same sectors where one would expect tips, gratuities and service charges to be left by customers for workers.

There are two ways to combat this unscrupulous practice, that is, to further resource the WRC to investigate more places of work and to ensure the punishment matches the crime. For this reason I propose to amend the legislation to increase the punishment for contravention of sections within the Bill from a class C fine of €2,500 to a class A fine of €5,000. We need to send a very clear message with this Bill that stealing employees' money is wrong and must be punished. We need to send a clear message because the Minister of State's own Government's figures, through the WRC each year, show we have a scandalous amount of stolen wages each year. In the last three years alone it is €9 million. These are wages stolen by employers from their employees.

With the greatest of respect, a €2,500 fine is not going to fix that. I know we are going to get this Bill done this evening and that the Minister of State is not going to agree with me but I urge him to have a look at this when the Bill reaches the Dáil. We cannot tolerate people's wages being stolen. Let us be clear that no-one can dispute this. The facts are in. The figure is €9 million for the last three years. Are we seriously suggesting a €2,500 fine is sufficient when people's wages are being stolen? We cannot.

I emphasise the second point, which the Minister of State and I have had a back-and-forth on before, that is, the WRC is consistently under-resourced. Again, that is a political choice being made by this Government. We need a significant ramping up of labour inspectors. I hope the Minister of State takes my points on board.