I must now deal with a postponed division on the motion put forward by the Social Democrats regarding employment rights. On Wednesday, 15 July 2020, on the question that the amendment to the motion be agreed to, a division was claimed and in accordance with Standing Order 80(2), that division must be taken now.
Employment Rights: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members]
The following motion was moved by Deputy Gary Gannon on Wednesday, 15 July 2020:
That Dáil Éireann:
recognises:
— the structural problem of low pay in the Irish economy, resulting in many people living on the breadline, denying them the opportunity of a decent standard of living;
— the precarious nature of many jobs, resulting in many workers being underemployed and dependent on welfare support;
— the lack of entitlement to basic protections such as sick pay and statutory leave for many workers;
— the increasing casualisation of work, with uncertainty about hours and days of work;
— the absence of the right to collective bargaining and representation in the workplace;
— the recent High Court decision to strike down a sectoral employment order, leaving many workers unprotected, and while the Government intends to appeal this judgement, the ultimate need for legislation; and
— the need for a clear pathway to the living wage;
acknowledges:
— that since the emergence of the Covid-19 crisis, there is an even more urgent need to recognise the valuable contribution to our State of the large number of essential workers who are in lower paid and precarious jobs;
— the exceptional efforts of such workers involved in our food production and supermarkets, care assistants, those who collected our waste throughout the crisis and those who provided support services to our frontline healthcare workers to enable them to carry out their duties in conditions that were sanitary and safe, amongst many others; and
— that the Irish State owes a debt of gratitude to its workers, particularly those on low pay and in insecure work; and
resolves:
— to ensure an enhanced focus within Government on creating good jobs and protecting workers’ rights;
— that access to jobs, where workers have a voice that provides a level of autonomy, a decent income, security of tenure, satisfying work in the right quantities and decent working conditions, should be integral to public policy given how this contributes to better health and well-being by tackling inequalities, building self-efficacy and combating poverty; and
— to establish a task force to give effect to this Resolution.
Debate resumed on amendment No. 1:
To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:
"acknowledges the essential work that has been carried out by so many different workers in the public and private sector during the ongoing Covid-19 public health emergency, and thanks those workers for their continued efforts;
endorses the commitment within the Programme for Government to move to a living wage over the lifetime of the Government as part of the development of a new social contract between citizens and the State;
notes that the Tánaiste and Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation is appealing the High Court ruling that Chapter Three of the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2015 is unconstitutional;
recognises the need for the Government to have a strong focus on job retention and creation, given the number of people whose employment has been threatened as a result of the Covid-19 public health emergency; and
resolves that the forthcoming July jobs initiative and the subsequent National Economic Plan contain substantial and innovative measures of scale to support the retention of employment where possible and the creation of new, good quality sustainable jobs in areas of opportunity."
- (Minister of State at the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection)
Amendment put:
The Dáil divided: Tá, 84; Níl, 58; Staon, 0.
Tá
- Berry, Cathal.
- Brophy, Colm.
- Browne, James.
- Bruton, Richard.
- Burke, Colm.
- Burke, Peter.
- Butler, Mary.
- Byrne, Thomas.
- Cahill, Jackie.
- Calleary, Dara.
- Cannon, Ciarán.
- Carey, Joe.
- Carroll MacNeill, Jennifer.
- Chambers, Jack.
- Collins, Niall.
- Costello, Patrick.
- Coveney, Simon.
- Crowe, Cathal.
- Devlin, Cormac.
- Dillon, Alan.
- Donnelly, Stephen.
- Duffy, Francis Noel.
- Durkan, Bernard J.
- English, Damien.
- Farrell, Alan.
- Feighan, Frankie.
- Fitzpatrick, Peter.
- Flaherty, Joe.
- Flanagan, Charles.
- Fleming, Sean.
- Foley, Norma.
- Grealish, Noel.
- Griffin, Brendan.
- Haughey, Seán.
- Healy-Rae, Danny.
- Healy-Rae, Michael.
- Heydon, Martin.
- Higgins, Emer.
- Hourigan, Neasa.
- Humphreys, Heather.
- Kehoe, Paul.
- Lahart, John.
- Lawless, James.
- Leddin, Brian.
- Lowry, Michael.
- MacSharry, Marc.
- Madigan, Josepha.
- Martin, Catherine.
- Matthews, Steven.
- McAuliffe, Paul.
- McConalogue, Charlie.
- McEntee, Helen.
- McGrath, Mattie.
- McHugh, Joe.
- Moynihan, Aindrias.
- Murnane O'Connor, Jennifer.
- Murphy, Eoghan.
- Murphy, Verona.
- Naughten, Denis.
- Naughton, Hildegarde.
- Noonan, Malcolm.
- O'Brien, Darragh.
- O'Brien, Joe.
- O'Callaghan, Jim.
- O'Connor, James.
- O'Dea, Willie.
- O'Donnell, Kieran.
- O'Donoghue, Richard.
- O'Donovan, Patrick.
- O'Dowd, Fergus.
- O'Gorman, Roderic.
- O'Sullivan, Christopher.
- O'Sullivan, Pádraig.
- Ó Cathasaigh, Marc.
- Ó Cuív, Éamon.
- Rabbitte, Anne.
- Richmond, Neale.
- Ring, Michael.
- Ryan, Eamon.
- Smith, Brendan.
- Smyth, Niamh.
- Smyth, Ossian.
- Stanton, David.
- Troy, Robert.
Níl
- Andrews, Chris.
- Barry, Mick.
- Boyd Barrett, Richard.
- Brady, John.
- Browne, Martin.
- Buckley, Pat.
- Cairns, Holly.
- Carthy, Matt.
- Clarke, Sorca.
- Collins, Joan.
- Collins, Michael.
- Connolly, Catherine.
- Conway-Walsh, Rose.
- Cronin, Réada.
- Crowe, Seán.
- Cullinane, David.
- Daly, Pa.
- Doherty, Pearse.
- Donnelly, Paul.
- Ellis, Dessie.
- Farrell, Mairéad.
- Fitzmaurice, Michael.
- Funchion, Kathleen.
- Gannon, Gary.
- Gould, Thomas.
- Guirke, Johnny.
- Harkin, Marian.
- Howlin, Brendan.
- Kenny, Gino.
- Kenny, Martin.
- Kerrane, Claire.
- Mac Lochlainn, Pádraig.
- McNamara, Michael.
- Mitchell, Denise.
- Munster, Imelda.
- Murphy, Catherine.
- Murphy, Paul.
- Mythen, Johnny.
- Nash, Ged.
- Nolan, Carol.
- O'Callaghan, Cian.
- O'Reilly, Louise.
- O'Rourke, Darren.
- Ó Broin, Eoin.
- Ó Laoghaire, Donnchadh.
- Ó Murchú, Ruairí.
- Ó Ríordáin, Aodhán.
- Pringle, Thomas.
- Quinlivan, Maurice.
- Ryan, Patricia.
- Shortall, Róisín.
- Smith, Bríd.
- Smith, Duncan.
- Stanley, Brian.
- Tully, Pauline.
- Ward, Mark.
- Whitmore, Jennifer.
- Wynne, Violet-Anne.
Staon
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Brendan Griffin and Jack Chambers; Níl, Deputies Catherine Murphy and Róisín Shortall.
Amendment declared carried.
Motion, as amended, put and declared carried.