Nicole Ryan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. I thank Fianna Fáil for bringing this Bill forward. Sinn Féin supports the principle behind this Bill. It is right that we send a clear message that abuse, threats and assault against workers will not be tolerated. However, we have to be honest with people that this Bill on its own will not address the real problem. The crux of the issue is simply not the absence of the specific offences but the absence of gardaí, which a few other Senators have also mentioned.

Retail workers, business owners and ordinary members of the public are crying out for a visible Garda presence on our streets, in our towns and in our communities. Instead, however, we have a situation where Garda numbers are falling as our population continues to grow. Replies to parliamentary questions have confirmed that more than 1,600 gardaí are eligible for retirement over the next five years, and it is not something we have heard for the first time today. Yet, the Government has failed to expand Garda recruitment and retention, and the intake capacity at Templemore remains completely insufficient for the challenge we face. Today's Bill is a small and very welcome step, but it does risk tinkering around the edges unless something is backed by real action on the ground.

Retail workers deserve more than symbolic legislation. They deserve to feel safe when they go to work. That requires investment in Garda visibility. It involves investment in community policing and youth diversion services as well. We are still living with the legacy of austerity-driven cuts, the hollowing out of community infrastructure, the stripping back of youth services and the long-standing neglect of crime prevention measures. All these failures have contributed, unfortunately, to an unsafe environment faced by retail workers today. If the Government is serious about protecting retail workers, it would not be rowing back on commitments on implementing the living wage, which has now been shelved until 2029, nor would it have shelved the auto-enrolment scheme, which has now been pushed from September to January of next year. Respecting workers means respecting them inside their workplace as well as outside their workplace.

Sinn Féin does support the Bill, but we are clear: we really need real change, and that only happens when the Government matches legislative change with proper investment in Garda recruitment and community development and workers’ rights. As everybody has mentioned so far, retail workers, and all workers, deserve not just new laws but a society in which they feel they are safe, they have dignity and have livelihoods that are genuinely protected.