Marie Sherlock (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I very much welcome that we finally have this Bill here. The campaign fought by the Irish Cancer Society has been a long one. We spoke about this two weeks ago when this Bill was before the House. I very much welcome the work done by the Minister and his Department in eventually bringing forward this legislation as there have been delays along the way.

To follow on from what Senator Ruane said about the inclusion of a provision on non-disclosure agreements, that is hugely welcome. I am somebody who worked in the trade union movement for many years and I had to sign up to non-disclosure agreements in the course of my work in respect of dealing with employers. I knew that the paper was not worth the paper it was written on but NDAs were very much used as an instrument to coerce and silence vulnerable workers, with long-lasting impacts. I thank Senator Ruane for all her work on this legislation.

I want to flag a concern that should be considered over the longer term. This legislation provides that an NDA is acceptable or permissible provided that an employer has access to independent legal advice. I warn that we have seen the legalisation of industrial relations and employee rights over the past number of years in this country that effectively has elbowed out the trade union movement. As trade unions are the true voice that represents workers, there has to be space to allow workers to have advice from trade unions. There is no doubt there has been all sorts of black sheep in the past and Senator Ruane referred to that previously. However, the principle remains that unions represent the best interests of workers whereas sometimes, in cases where independent legal advice is required, the cost and other associated factors are not necessarily in the worker's best interest. We need to examine this matter in the future in providing for both independent legal advice and advice from the worker's trade union to protect the best interests of the employee in question.

Lastly, and I do not know if this is in order, but I hope that the Acting Chairperson will bear with me for a minute.