Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I support Senator Higgins on this. I am hugely disappointed by this. I am not particularly surprised, but I am hugely disappointed that the EU minimum wage directive, which commits this country to achieving a collective bargaining rate of 80%, will not be implemented on time by this Government. What worries me is that the Government is not proposing any changes in legislation to help that happen. That is because it then will not happen. I see this as an ideological objection on the part of the Fine Gael Party in particular. You either accept that trade unions are a force for good or you do not. I believe passionately as a trade union member that they are a force for good. I have seen them work well. I have had the honour of working for one of them, namely, SIPTU. This is the most reasonable request that has been made year after year, and every year the Department of Finance has rejected it. I firmly believe that is because the Department of Finance and, unfortunately, the Fine Gael Party do not believe that trade unions are a force for good. If they did, they would give them the same recognition as other professional bodies and give tax relief to encourage union membership, which I believe is something we should all be in support of. It is hugely disappointing but it tells us an awful lot about the politics of the Fine Gael Party.