Patricia Stephenson (Social Democrats)

I lend my support to the comments by Senator Comyn. We heard reports yesterday that 13 of the Oireachtas broadcast unit staff will be signing on the dole for the summer recess. This is appalling. They are our colleagues with whom we work every day. They are fundamental to the effectiveness of what we do. Their live streaming of the proceedings of the Seanad, Dáil and committees is not a little nice-to-have thing; it is fundamental for good democracy, accountability and transparency. It allows members of the public to tune in from wherever they are, follow proceedings across the Oireachtas and hold us accountable as elected representatives. Many of us use those streams to show the people who voted for us in our communities the work we are doing on a daily basis. This facility really strengthens the work we do.

That colleagues who work alongside us daily are forced to go on the dole is fundamentally wrong. The broadcasters have been incredibly brave in advocating for themselves and standing up against the deeply unfair working practices they face. I commend them on their courage, particularly given the statement by their employer, reported in The Irish Times yesterday, that they have "engaged in ill-informed criticism of their employment terms to further [their] objective". They are entitled to challenge poor working conditions. We are very lucky to have workers' rights in Ireland. In some parts of the world, workers do not have those rights. The broadcast staff are well within their rights to speak out and demand better employment conditions.I find it shocking that an employer would have a stance of ill-informed criticism because the employees know their conditions better than anybody else. Working rights and fair conditions are crucial. It is not sustainable for them to have no income until September. No one should be facing that. I request the Leader to write to the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission on behalf of all the Senators to request a pause on the tendering process for the next contract until these issues are addressed. If the next contract, which is due this year, comes in exactly the same form then these issues will continue until the next contract. We are in the moment now to evoke some sort of change. They deserve industry standards. They deserve retainers. They deserve income protection. They are being abused quite frankly. They deserve better working conditions.

Similar to Senator Comyn, I thank everyone who makes the Oireachtas function correctly, including cleaners, waiter staff, cooks, and all of the people who allow us to be able to work hard and do our jobs on a daily basis.