Alan Kelly
Question:1. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his most recent engagements with the social partners. [5963/22]
View answerTuesday, 15 February 2022
Questions (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
Richard Boyd Barrett
Question:2. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his most recent engagements with the social partners. [6393/22]
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Paul Murphy
Question:3. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his most recent engagements with the social partners. [6396/22]
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Louise O'Reilly
Question:4. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Taoiseach if he will consider expanding membership of the Labour Employer Economic Forum to include an organisation (details supplied). [6897/22]
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Mary Lou McDonald
Question:5. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his most recent engagements with the social partners. [7522/22]
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Brendan Smith
Question:6. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his most recent engagements with the social partners. [7949/22]
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Joe Flaherty
Question:7. Deputy Joe Flaherty asked the Taoiseach if he will report on recent engagements with the social partners. [7950/22]
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Jackie Cahill
Question:8. Deputy Jackie Cahill asked the Taoiseach if he will report on recent engagements with the social partners. [7951/22]
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Mick Barry
Question:9. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his most recent engagements with the social partners. [7956/22]
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Cian O'Callaghan
Question:10. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his most recent engagements with the social partners. [8108/22]
View answerOral answers (15 contributions)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 10, inclusive, together.
The Government recognises the importance of regular and open engagement with all sectors of society. Social dialogue between Government, trade unions and other representative groups takes place through structures like the national economic dialogue, the National Economic and Social Council, NESC, the National Competitiveness and Productivity Council and many sectoral groups and with Ministers and Departments directly.
In recent months, I have had a number of engagements with social partners in a variety of different formats. This includes through mechanisms such as the Labour Employer Economic Forum, LEEF, which brings together representatives of employers and trade unions with Ministers to exchange views on economic and employment issues as they affect the labour market and which are of mutual concern. LEEF, which I chair, has met regularly to facilitate discussions on ongoing issues related to the Covid-19 pandemic and our economic recovery. The most recent meeting of LEEF took place on 3 February 2022 and discussions included Covid-19, economic outlook including inflation and the work of the LEEF subgroups.
Under the auspices of LEEF, there has been significant progress on issues such as the introduction of statutory sick pay, workplace safety during Covid-19 and the establishment of a high level review of collective bargaining. In addition to Government representation, the membership of LEEF is made up of a labour delegation led by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU, and an employer delegation led by IBEC, which includes the Construction Industry Federation, CIF, and Chambers Ireland. This has been the case since the formation of LEEF in 2016 and reflects long-standing and established arrangements for engagement between Government, employers and trade unions on labour market issues.
LEEF is also just one of a wide range of engagement mechanisms which allow stakeholders make their views known to Government. There are many other national and sectoral business and employer organisations involved in other fora. Other engagements I have had with social partners include a series of meetings last year with representatives from the environmental pillar, community and voluntary pillar and farming and agriculture pillar to discuss how social dialogue can be strengthened as well as issues of concern to those sectors. I also met with those representing the fishing sector.
I look forward to continuing my engagements with the social partners in the period ahead as we continue to strengthen social dialogue and work collaboratively to tackle major challenges facing the country.
The cost of living is the dominant political issue at present. The package announced last week is a sticking plaster for the problems families and workers are facing. The private sector committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions met last week and recommended that unions seek pay rises in the range of 2.5% to 5.5%. Does the Taoiseach agree with workers seeking pay rises? The committee also sought to change the small benefits exemption rule to increase the limit from €500 to €1,000 for those earning up to €1,462 per week and for the values to be spread over multiple payments, for example, €100 per month. Has the Government ruled that out or is it under consideration?
There should also be a way to encourage private sector employers to reward front-line workers in retail, social care and other sectors who kept our country running during Covid-19 to benefit from a bonus for their work.
The Government Bill on the right to request remote working is at pre-legislative scrutiny stage. Will the Government ensure that every worker who was allowed to work remotely during the pandemic will be given the right to continue to access flexible working arrangements?
At a time when workers are rightly calling for pay increases to deal with the issue of inflation, I want to draw the Taoiseach's attention to the fact that Aer Lingus, a company that got a hell of a lot of public money during Covid-19, is forcing its ground operation workers to vote on a pay freeze until 2025 and, in some cases, take a 10% permanent pay cut on their restored duty allowances. This is a deal that 84% of the workers rejected before Christmas. The company is making them vote again and said it will outsource 100% of the operations if the workers do not accept this. That is outrageous. Aer Lingus is a company that went into Covid-19 with cash reserves of €900 million. Its cargo operations saw a significant increase in profitability even during the pandemic. Now, it is trying to impose pay cuts and tear up contracts and agreements with workers and drive their pay down. Does the Taoiseach think it is acceptable that a company which got so much public money during Covid-19 should be doing this to its ground operations workforce?
I wish to raise with the Taoiseach the treatment by Tesco of its retail security officers. These are essential workers who helped to keep our supermarkets open during Covid-19. Their work became a lot more stressful and difficult during that period. They are in their third year without a pay rise. Last week, instead of Tesco contacting them to offer them the pay rise they deserve after all the hard work they have done, it contacted them and stated that their jobs are being outsourced. They have a few weeks to decide and then they will either get a severance package or be transferred over to a private company, namely, OCS, where pay, conditions and terms firms will inevitably be downgraded.
The workers are outraged. I met with a number of them last week. They said there was no discussion with them whatsoever and that Tesco was simply attempting to ram through this outsourcing agenda. Does the Taoiseach agree that this is horrifically bad behaviour by Tesco? Does he agree that the outsourcing threat should be withdrawn and instead these workers should be recognised with a pay increase?
School secretaries have been fighting for fairness and equal and decent pay for years. They are absolutely essential to keeping our schools going. Our schools could not function without the school secretary at the heart of everything. They proved that, particularly during the Covid-19 crisis.
The Department of Education committed to placing secretaries on a public service incremental pay scale and give them a pay increase. In October 2020, the Tánaiste committed to regularising the employment terms and conditions and pension rates of school secretaries but they have been kept in limbo. There are two issues, one of which is with regard to where they are on the payroll and whether it is with the school or the Department. The other relates to the need for them to sign on during the summer months. It is the position of the Department and, therefore, the Government that they should sign on during the summer; not that this is the current situation but that it should be part of the offering. I do not believe that is at all acceptable. I hope the Taoiseach will agree it is not acceptable that as part of ensuring that we get school secretaries and caretakers decent pay and conditions, they would have to sign on during the summer. That is a ridiculous proposal.
I welcome the Taoiseach's engagement with representatives of the agrifood sector. I am thinking in particular at this time, unfortunately, of the very serious crisis in the pig meat sector. This sector is suffering huge losses at present, which threatens the viability of some pig units and farms throughout the country.
A number of factors are contributing to these difficulties. First, during Covid-19, there were staff shortages, which led to backlog in processing. Brexit has impacted very severely the value and volume of pig meat exports to Britain, which is our most valued and valuable market. Exports are down 50% since the beginning of last year. There is input price inflation and, of course, pig units are one of the highest users of direct energy in Irish agriculture. There are also other increased input costs.
The sector is worth €1 billion to the economy on an annual basis and is the third-largest sector within agriculture. The Netherlands, France, Belgium, Poland and Slovenia have introduced direct aid to pig producers and for the sector. We need the same level of direct aid to the sector immediately or there will be casualties and huge losses incurred by it, which will threaten the viability of many units. I appeal to the Taoiseach and the Ministers for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Public Expenditure and Reform to ensure a proper and adequate aid package is put in place as a matter of extreme urgency.
I have previously raised with the Taoiseach the matter of the stalling of the allocation of funding for the continued development of the N4 upgrade from Mullingar to Longford. It has now emerged that €6 million has been spent on the project to date. In the event of funding not being allocated this year, we risk that previous expenditure being wasted. The Taoiseach has committed to looking at the project. I urge him to treat it as a priority. It is essential for the midlands and the west.
I raise the issue of the horticultural sector and the harvesting of peat for 2022. Stakeholders have issued a report that was signed off by them and by the relevant Departments that put recommendations in place that would allow for the issuing of licences for the horticulture industry to harvest peat. I met with representatives of the industry last week who are extremely concerned that the relevant Department has issued a template for the securing of those licences that is unworkable, impractical and will not allow the issuing of licences for harvesting in 2022. Continuing with the importation of peat in this country is a farcical situation, it is environmentally unfriendly and it will be an economic disaster for the horticulture industry. The mushroom industry, in particular, cannot afford it. The cost base is not there and it cannot carry the cost of importation of peat. I urge the Taoiseach to consult with the relevant Department and let the recommendations of the working group be implemented in order to allow the issuing of licences for the harvesting of peat in 2022.
The following are the words of Mayo-based Tesco security worker Keith Leonard after 100 of the company's security officers were outsourced to OCS with just a couple of weeks' notice:
I have been spat at, threatened and beat up for this company over the last 16 years. Then on Tuesday, on my day off, the company called me to tell me my job is gone. It is upsetting and disrespectful and we all deserve so much better. How do I look my family in the eye when the mortgage company comes to take our home because Tesco took my livelihood away?
Workers like Keith were the heroes of the pandemic but look at how they are being treated now. Meanwhile, companies like Tesco did very well from the crisis. It increased its revenue by more than £1 billion from stores in the Republic of Ireland and the UK in the 2020-21 financial year. What steps does the Taoiseach intend to take to stop this gross injustice and other gross injustices of its kind from taking place on his watch?
I want to ask about standards in emergency shelters for homeless people. I have raised with the Taoiseach before issues around people sleeping in rooms without windows, not being issued with blankets or duvets or, in other instances, being issued with bloodstained sheets, and, in some cases, residents complaining of theft of personal belongings, including allegedly by staff who are not Garda vetted or properly trained. All of this is happening in hostels in receipt of public funds. A recent survey by Mendicity found that more than 98% of respondents had either been assaulted or had their belongings stolen while living in these publicly funded hostels. Will the Government make a decision to appoint HIQA to inspect emergency accommodation for homeless people?
The Taoiseach has four minutes to respond to the questions raised.
Deputy Ó Ríordáin asked about the cost of living measures and the remote working legislation. Suffice to say that the Government allocated approximately €1 billion in the most recent budget towards cost of living issues, from taxation relief of some €630 million to more than €500 million in respect of social protection measures. That was added to last week by a package of more than €500 million, which included cutting electricity bills by €200 and an increased fuel allowance payment of €125. That is on top of the €5 increase in fuel allowance, extended eligibility and extension of the season that were introduced in the budget. The drug payment scheme threshold has been reduced to €80, there is a front-loading of the working family payment, a 20% reduction in public transport from the end of April until the end of the year, which will help some 800,000 people who are currently using the services, and a reduction in caps for school transport fees for the next academic year. The package is not a sticking plaster. It is an effort on top of what was done in the budget to help people to get over the cost of living issue in terms of the inflationary cycle we are currently experiencing. We have to work with Europe, the European Central Bank and others in weathering this storm and navigating our way through it to ensure we do not undermine our economy and that we keep it on the track it is on at the moment, which is one of extraordinary growth and development and increased employment.
The remote working proposals are going through the pre-legislative scrutiny process and we will take on board people's input to that process. The Tánaiste will review the Bill once it gets through pre-legislative scrutiny. There is a balancing required in this and quite considerable work yet to be done on it.
In response to Deputy Boyd Barrett, regarding any specific employment, we have a voluntarist system. We have the WRC and the Labour Court. There are mechanisms for workers' representatives to pursue issues. I would say to Aer Lingus that it should respect its staff, many of whom have given long service. The Government intervened and gave assistance to the company for two reasons: one, to protect workers and their jobs; and, two, because, let us be honest, aviation took an awful and extraordinary hit during the pandemic that went to the very core of viability, all over the world, of airlines, airports and so forth. There was a need to underpin and keep that which is essential to Ireland's connectivity because that connectivity is key to jobs, the economy and exports. We have had record exports from this country announced today, again because of our connectivity and the infrastructure around that connectivity.
The same applies to the situation at Tesco, which was raised by a number of Deputies. Again, there are labour relations mechanisms there for having these issued resolved. Workers' rights should be respected in regard to their entitlements to pensions, pay and conditions in any such transfers and there should be proper negotiation processes in that regard.
Deputy Ó Laoghaire raised the situation of school secretaries, which I dealt with earlier today on the Order of Business. There has been a lot of progress made in the discussions at the WRC. There was significant progress following discussions on 13 September last year. Subject to agreement on all elements of the claim, the Department of Education has offered to move school secretaries' pay rates to a scale that is aligned with the clerical officer grade 3 pay scale on a pro rata basis, according to secretaries' current working pattern. The Department has also offered to improve the conditions with regard to sick leave, annual leave and maternity provisions for this cohort of staff. Further dialogue has taken place between the parties on these issues since 13 September with the aim of reaching an overall agreement. The talks continued most recently at a meeting of the WRC on 26 January and the parties are to meet again later this month following reflection on matters discussed.
I will pursue the issue raised by Deputy Flaherty. It is a very important piece of information that €6 million has already been spent on the Mullingar to Longford road. I will again talk to the Minister about making sure we can get continued progress on that.
I will come back to Deputy Cahill on the issue he raised regarding the harvesting of peat. There have been legal impediments because of the European directives, court cases and so on, which have proved very problematic in terms of this matter. I will talk to the Minister about the issues the Deputy raised.
Deputy Cian O'Callaghan, to be fair, has consistently raised the issue to which he referred today. I will talk again to the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government. There are issues around capacity for HIQA in regard to what is proposed.
In the first instance, the funding agencies and the homeless fora in the different cities should be making sure that if they are allocating funding to emergency centres, they should meet certain basic standards.
We are way over time.
What about the pig meat sector?
I will talk to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, about the pig meat sector. I will also talk to the European Commission but I will talk to the Minister in the first instance. It is under huge pressure because of the wider issues pertaining to costs, input costs and so on. I will come back to the Deputy on that.