Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
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117. To ask the Minister for Trade, Enterprise and Employment his further plans to engage with the liquidators appointed to a company (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25052/20]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Debenhams is a court-supervised liquidation, subject to oversight of the High Court and accordingly is sub judice. Under the Companies Act 2014, I have no power to intervene in a court-supervised liquidation.

Similarly, the Government cannot intervene with a liquidator, who has a statutory duty to realise assets and distribute to creditors in accordance with the law and who reports to the High Court.

Notwithstanding this, I have met with Debenhams employees and their union, Mandate, to hear their views and concerns. The Taoiseach and Government Ministers have also met on a number of occasions with Debenhams employees and Mandate, the most recent being in late August. While the Government cannot interfere with the High Court-overseen liquidation process, Ministers have sought at all times to ensure that the concerns of workers are heard and that the State’s employment and training services are responding to the needs of workers. The Government is also committed to detailed and serious consideration of ICTU’s recent proposals concerning the treatment of collective agreements when companies are undergoing liquidation.

The Government is supportive of the best outcome that is possible for the workers, within the legal framework available. I continue to call on all parties to enter into discussions and engage towards a fair resolution.