Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I bring to the House's attention the plight of workers in Iceland stores throughout the country. There is one close to me in Ballyfermot. Last March, Michael Doyle, a journalist with The Sun, brought to my attention that a small cohort of workers had approached him to say that they had not been paid following the transfer of ownership from the Iceland company in the UK to an Irish-based organisation. All of a sudden, workers were not being paid. They were being left short in their wages. I engaged with him and, as a result of a newspaper article, an overwhelming number of people contacted me seeking assistance and support with workplace relations claims. The story has moved on. In the past week, the Food Safety Authority issued a rather unprecedented call asking that any meat-based products bought in Iceland since March be destroyed and that the store do that in respect of its entire frozen meat range. Yesterday, we had the High Court application for the company to go into administration in order to give it a bit of breathing space and hopefully preserve jobs.

These are low-paid workers in precarious positions. These are women who work 11 hours in Iceland in Ballyfermot and then go to cleaning jobs and other things. They are being supported by the Independent Workers Union, a small but very effective union which represents some of them. I am supporting and advising those. We need a debate on how such an enormous number of precarious workers can be left in this position and it is left up to those of us who are volunteering to assist and support them in as much as is possible. I wish to draw attention that this is going on. It is very serious and affects 334 workers throughout the country.

At 12 noon, the apartment defects organisation, Not Our Fault, will be making a presentation in the audiovisual room. I support those people who hold a weekly protest outside the gates of Leinster House. They will be presenting their case. We have the money. I am still looking for a statement in the House on accelerating the roll-out of the Department's defects remediation scheme.