Tom Clonan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming in. I commend this Bill and those who have proposed and seconded it. I echo comments concerning former Senator and current Deputy Malcolm Byrne who brought forward this legislation during the previous Administration.

Retail workers are literally on the front line in our cities and towns. They are on the front line interacting with members of their communities every day. For so many people, they can be the only point of social contact they have during the day. It is my experience of people in retail in Ireland, both in Dublin and elsewhere, that they are an important component of what gives Ireland its unique selling point. They are extraordinarily warm and welcoming, despite the difficult conditions under which they work. Retail is tough. You are on your feet all day and have hundreds or thousands of interactions. It is intense. Notwithstanding that, they provide this amazing vibrant community. They are the very fabric of our towns and cities and their communities.I am shocked to see the level of assaults they are experiencing. There was mention of the RGDATA statistics of 40% experiencing fraudulent activity, but 25% - one in four - experiencing a violent robbery, often involving the production of a weapon, whether that be a knife or some other implement or, in many cases, firearms. We must do everything in our power to try to protect these staff. They are the lowest paid workers in the economy. Many of them are new Irish or immigrant workers. They are particularly vulnerable to all sorts of targeted behaviours, whether it be offensive, racist or homophobic language and all sorts of slurs.

We had a presentation in the audiovisual room earlier today about the prevalence of assaultive behaviours. When a person goes into his or her workplace, they expect to feel safe, but when they go into a retail space, they are often on their own. They are the only person in an environment where there is lots of stock and very often a significant amount of cash. They are the person who is the sole trader in terms of having the responsibility for that on a low wage. If the incidence of violence is so high at one in four, then people have anticipatory anxiety about going into work. They will be fearful about what might happen during the day and will always be on edge. They either are the target of such an attack or witness one, which provokes major accelerating factors in the development of chronic stress reaction, and if a person is untreated, they can go on to develop PTSD. If we as the Oireachtas can do anything in our power to help protect these workers, it would be to highlight to those who would engage in such behaviours that we are taking this seriously. The law and order approach and criminalisation of such behaviour is not a solution, but it must be a part of the overall picture.

I am a Dubliner and I am very proud of our city, but Dublin has deteriorated considerably. I would consider the city centre at times to be an unsafe environment. Retailers have no choice but to work in that unsafe environment. For example, we are just one family. One of my sons was the victim of an unprovoked one punch assault on the top of Grafton Street at a taxi rank. All these unprovoked assaults are horrific, but for him it was his first venture into the workplace on an internship and he was wearing a suit. I think the fact he was a young man in suit escorting one of his co-workers to the taxi rank at the top of Grafton Street provoked an individual, who came out of nowhere, punched him in the head and he fell on the ground and hit his head. Luckily for him, the taxi drivers at the rank came to his assistance and luckily everything was okay. This all happened within the past year. One of my other sons, who is a wheelchair user, went to the Lego shop on Grafton Street. Again, it was Grafton Street, which is the primary retail street of our capital city. While he was in there his mobile phone was stolen from him. He is a wheelchair user who has restricted eyesight. His mobile phone would be his lifeline and that was taken from him.

My daughter, who will be 21 next month, and her friends do not like going into town. They prefer to socialise out in the suburbs because they recognise it as being a dangerous place. When they go into town, they do so in groups and look out for each other. Many of them have been targeted by having drinks spiked and so on. This is something they are all very conscious of. They keep each other's locations on Snap Map. They will not allow any of them to go on their own in a taxi. This is the reality and this is situation. Dublin is a bit tired at the moment. It is frayed at the edges.

Related to all of that, I note that, since the Minister has taken office, whether it is my imagination or not but I do not think so, I certainly see a much more visible presence of An Garda Síochána on our city streets. That is one step in the right direction. It may be a small step, but it is a significant step. I commend the Minister on that and An Garda Síochána and the Department for funding that.In addition to this measure, we must be creative in how we reimagine this city. It is so important for all of us who live, work and inhabit this city and all the tourists who come to stay here. I commend this initiative. The Minister has got off to a very good start and we are headed in the right direction.