Alison Comyn (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I second the motion. I add my support for and admiration of Senator Fitzpatrick for this Bill. It is long overdue and something I am glad to support. We must protect our retail workers. They are on the front line. While they are, unfortunately, dwindling now because so much has gone online, we really have to look after the staff we have. From looking at some of the statistics yesterday, retail workers are some of the workers who come in under the minimum wage. In fact, a lot of them earn minimum wage. The onus is definitely on us to protect and look after them.

We are not just talking about physical abuse in this regard. We were questioned this morning whether there are existing laws to look after workers, staff and everyone and anyone through assault laws. These are very different, however. It is not just physical abuse. Quite often, it is psychological abuse and it is relentless. Something happened during Covid-19 where people have lost the run of themselves and they do not know how to speak to people anymore. In another life many years ago, I taught customer service and customer relations. I looked to see what workers are now dealing with in bars and shops and, every day, it is like people have forgotten how to treat people. They see it as fair game to speak to retail workers as they wish. As we have heard, this includes physical attacks.

This is a Bill we should all support. It is very different and outside what we are used to. As I said before, we have to protect those workers we have. I am sure everyone here has either worked in a shop or a bar. We know how difficult and highly pressurised it can be and how little people are being paid. Retail workers need someone to stand up for them. We can do this with this Bill.