Mary Lou McDonald
Question:14. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the National Economic and Social Council, NESC, a statutory agency operating under the aegis of his Department. [30735/23]
View answerWednesday, 5 July 2023
Questions (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
Richard Boyd Barrett
Question:15. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the NESC. [32542/23]
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Paul Murphy
Question:16. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the NESC. [32545/23]
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Cian O'Callaghan
Question:17. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the National Economic and Social Council, a statutory agency operating under the aegis of his Department. [32558/23]
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Mick Barry
Question:18. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the National Economic and Social Council, a statutory agency operating under the aegis of his Department. [32644/23]
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Brendan Smith
Question:19. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the National Economic and Social Council, a statutory agency operating under the aegis of his Department. [32833/23]
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Christopher O'Sullivan
Question:20. Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the National Economic and Social Council, a statutory agency operating under the aegis of his Department. [32844/23]
View answerOral answers (7 contributions)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 14 to 20, inclusive, together.
The National Economic and Social Council advises me on strategic policy issues relating to sustainable, social and environmental development. The NESC is currently working in five main areas. The first is good jobs. The council is examining how good jobs could provide a mechanism to improve worker well-being, drive innovation and enhance productivity. It is expected that the NESC report on this will be completed in quarter 4 of 2023.
The second is climate action, just transition and agriculture. This work explores, in practical terms, how climate targets and the transition they entail for Irish agriculture can be achieved in a manner that encompasses social equity and inclusion, environmental sustainability and economic well-being. The report is expected to be published shortly.
The third is natural capital accounting. This work, which is an action in the current climate action plan, examines how integration of ecosystems accounting can progress. The NESC convened three policy round-table discussions with stakeholders. This NESC report will be completed in quarter 3 of 2023. The NESC continues to engage with the shared island unit. A report on social enterprise was published in late May and includes an overview of the state of social enterprise in Ireland and Northern Ireland and on a shared island basis.
On well-being and inequality, this work examines how Ireland's well-being framework can help identify inequalities and how it can point towards new means of confronting such inequalities. This work will be published shortly. In addition, the NESC was established in 1973, and plans to mark its 50th anniversary with a major conference in the final quarter of this year.
In its report, Understanding the Irish Economy in a Time of Turbulence, the NESC recommends transposing the European Union directive on adequate minimum wages in order to do two things, namely, to strengthen the national system of collective bargaining and to increase collective bargaining coverage. The research shows that countries with high collective bargaining coverage tend to have a lower share of low-wage workers and tend to have higher minimum wages relative to the median wage and overall, lower pay inequality. It also shows that higher wages attract more capable workers and that higher wages reduce staff turnover, boost quality and customer service and increase productivity. They also deliver better health outcomes for workers. What is not to like for all of society?
Yet in my own constituency, Tesco will not let trade union organisers inside the door. It does not want unions representing workers and the dot.com pickers and drivers in the Tesco store in Monread, Naas, or in the larger stores in Celbridge and Maynooth. Does the Taoiseach not think it is so short-sighted and old-fashioned, when one sees the whole-of-society benefits from proper wages and good representation?
Last week, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU, called for effective implementation of the high-level group report and of the EU directive on adequate minimum wages. We know the directive must be transposed into Irish law by 2024. Can the Taoiseach confirm that he will implement the high-level group report? I know that when we had him in at the Joint Committee on Gender Equality, he was quite happy and certainly did not disagree with the questions we raised with him. Does he agree that collective bargaining should be the workplace norm, rather than the exception and will he show that he is ambitious for all of our workers?
Last week, Deputy Bríd Smith and I met a group of Tesco workers, who are so-called dot.com workers. In other words, they are the workers who pick the products if one orders online on tesco.com. They have to pick between 180 and 190 products per hour, and they are the delivery drivers who deliver that shopping to people's doors.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, these were the people who made sure that vulnerable people were able to get their groceries on a week-to-week basis but they are being treated horrendously by their employer, Tesco. They have had their hours changed unilaterally, which has had the consequence of a huge cut in their pay. Some of them are down up to €4,200 a year, which has a big impact on the organisation of their family lives, childcare and so on. Does the Taoiseach agree that Tesco should withdraw these unilateral changes and should agree with their workers and their union Mandate?
On social development, I want to ask the Taoiseach about a lack of adult day services for students who have finished school this year. For example, students leaving school in St. Michael's House, Baldoyle, have received a letter stating that there are no placements available for them in adult day services. This letter explains that St. Michael's House is not in a position to offer these placements due to a combination of staffing shortages, a lack of facilities and significant waiting lists for adult day services.
Many families and students who have been engaging with St. Michael's House over the length of their education have now suddenly been told that there are no adult day services available for school leavers. It is vital that these young people have access to adult day services, if they need them when they leave school, to ensure they can continue with their educational and social supports. If they do not get these adult day services, a lot of the progress they have made over the last number of years can be lost. Consequently, it is vital that they do.
What is the Government doing to ensure there are adult day services made available for everyone who needs them when they leave school?
As the Taoiseach knows, library workers have been subjected to a campaign of harassment and intimidation in recent months by far-right activists who are objecting to books on LGBTQ+ sexuality. Nowhere has this been more the case than in Cork city. Library staff have been subjected to abuse, have had "paedophile" slurs hurled against them, and have been filmed against their wishes. The film was put up online.
This Friday, these workers will march from Cork City Library to Cork City Hall with their union, Fórsa, other Cork City Council work colleagues and members of the LGBTQ+ community to demand that Cork City Council management takes action to protect their health and safety. Does the Taoiseach agree that more needs to be done in Cork and across the country to protect the best interests of library workers who provide such an important public service?
We all accept that remote working is a real positive for many people. I have brought up the issue before with regard to cross-Border remote workers who are not facilitated at present. I use the example of PayPal in Dundalk, when it closed its premises and everyone was put on remote working, that those in the North needed to be transferred to PayPal UK. Obviously, a large international company can do that. As small companies are not capable of doing that, we are failing many of those in the Border areas.
The OECD is looking at this on an international basis, but we could be waiting a hell of a long time for it to come up with a solution. I would like to think that this was being brought up at Cabinet level, and that those engagements - some of which may have happened between Revenue and HM Revenue and Customs, HMRC - would be escalated to a higher level, and that we might even look at a bilateral agreement between Britain and Ireland on ensuring that we can deliver a shared island solution.
I thank the Deputies for their questions.
As the House knows, Ireland is required to transpose the EU directive on adequate minimum wages and collective bargaining. I began the work of doing that during my previous role as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. On the adequate minimum wage side, there is not much that we have to do. Our laws are already up to the European standard, and indeed ahead of them. We have a Low Pay Commission, and a national minimum wage that is the sixth- or seventh-highest in the EU, even when one takes account of the cost of living. We have a plan to introduce a living wage that is being phased in and that will be pitched at 60% of median earnings. That is all very much under way, and we are entirely compliant with the directive already.
On collective bargaining, we have some work to do. We are developing a two-year action plan to implement that directive, and we will implement it, and transpose it into Irish law. There is an engagement ongoing between employers' groups, unions and Government on that, under the auspices of the Labour Employer Economic Forum, LEEF.
In the round, I agree that collective bargaining is a good thing. It enhances workers' rights and terms and conditions, advances social progress, and can lead to increased industrial productivity. We need to get our laws right in this regard, and there is a bit of work to do there still.
I will never forget something a very senior trade union official said to me once. It was that you can force people by law to meet, but you cannot force them to negotiate in good faith and you certainly cannot force them to agree. Ultimately, decisions will be made by a ballot of union members and by a decision of the board or shareholders. That can be taken away by moving towards a judicial process of industrial relations where unions and employers cannot say "No", but as I do not think that is the route we want to go down in Ireland, we need to get the laws right. Work is being done on that.
In regard to the Tesco dispute; as is the case with any industrial relations dispute, there are processes and systems to be followed. I am not going to express a view on the detail of it, but I do think the company should engage or at least meet with Mandate. I do not think anything could be lost from that. As I said earlier, to meet with somebody is not necessarily to agree, but the company should not refuse to meet the representatives of the workers there, provided it can be established that the workers want to be represented by that particular union and their representatives.
In relation to St. Michael's House, I answered a question on that yesterday. I will send a note to Deputy O'Callaghan with some more information on it. The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, is engaging on the issue and is trying to find a solution for the school leavers affected.
Deputy Barry raises the very important issue of the attacks and protests that are occurring at our libraries and against some librarians. I want to express my solidarity with the library service and people who work in libraries. This is not a country that bans books because people do not agree with the contents of them. In places where they ban books, it is shortly after that that they start burning books and then sometimes burning people. That is not a road we are going to go down as a country. We do support our librarians. Libraries are not just a place where books are stored or loaned out; they are a repository of information and provide access to knowledge for people. It is important that we make sure that librarians are supported in their jobs and feel safe in their jobs. That is what the Government is committed to.
Deputy Ó Murchú raised once again the issue of cross-Border workers and the interplay of our different revenue and welfare laws North and South. It is a complicated area and it is difficult to get right, but certainly we will talk to the Revenue and the British authorities as well. We would certainly be open to an agreement that would work, but it is never straightforward.
Is féidir teacht ar Cheisteanna Scríofa ar www.oireachtas.ie.
Written Answers are published on the Oireachtas website.
Cuireadh an Dáil ar fionraí ar 2.03 p.m. agus cuireadh tús leis arís ar 3.04 p.m.
Sitting suspended at 2.03 p.m. and resumed at 3.04 p.m.