1. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment the protections his Department will install for workers to prevent the situation that occurred at a company (details supplied) being replicated at other companies, whereby workers are left without any form of income for prolonged periods; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62594/25]
Sentiment score: 0.02
Last month, one of Ireland's largest delivery companies went into receivership, leaving 300 direct employees' jobs at risk and impacting a further 600-plus jobs, including subcontractors, franchisees and seasonal workers. These workers have been left in limbo and are still technically employed by Fastway but no longer getting paid. What protections will the Department install for workers to prevent the situation that occurred in Fastway being replicated in other companies, whereby workers and subcontractors are left without any form of income for prolonged periods?
Sentiment score: -0.22
I thank the Minister and I know the discussions we are having obviously overlap with the remit of the Minister for Social Protection. In these situations, it is very important that there is tight communication between both Departments to put in emergency services. The Minister said people can go to their Intreo offices, but in these situations it is important that dedicated personnel are available to people to answer all of their queries. The huge shock that comes with a receivership announcement leaves hundreds of families devastated. There is a lot of confusion. In particular, what workers and subcontractors were trying to find out was whether any of the payments the Minister cited would impact on their redundancy. They would need written confirmation of that because they do not want to find out, months down the line, that they have taken something that has jeopardised that. It is hugely important that we can protect those workers during prolonged periods without income when their employer has gone into receivership.
Sentiment score: 0.07
It would be very useful if the Minister and the Minister for Social Protection drew up a definitive list of actions and supports. I will work with them in doing that, so that if this situation happens again, we will have something - almost a pack - to present to workers showing them the do's and don'ts of what they are allowed to do, so people will have clarity around that. Will the Minister consider a number of measures to strengthen worker protections in similar circumstances? The first would be to have enhanced oversight of franchising and subcontracting models. Many of these arrangements blur the line between employment and self-employment. We need clearer legal definitions and enforcement to ensure the people doing the work are afforded the rights and protections of workers, including redundancy notice and holiday entitlements, even where corporate structures try to say otherwise. That is critically important. The Minister must also remember that workers all over the country are impacted by this, including in my constituency.
Sentiment score: 0.30
3. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment how he is taking account of the views expressed by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise, Tourism and Employment in its scrutiny of the proposed omnibus directive, in particular the committee's concerns that the proposals extend far beyond the simplification of burdensome regulations for small and medium enterprises and could weaken the due diligence obligations of large companies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62596/25]
Sentiment score: -0.20
I want to talk to the Minister about the proposed omnibus directive and in particular the enterprise committee's concerns that the proposals extend far beyond simplification of burdensome regulations for small and medium enterprises and that these could weaken the due diligence obligations of larger companies. It is really important that we need to know where we stand on it. Is Ireland voting in favour of deregulation or to protect the corporate sustainability due diligence directive?
Sentiment score: 0.13
Everybody agrees on what needs to be done for small and medium businesses in particular, and for any other businesses, in addressing the administrative burden, the duplication and a lot of the nonsense around requirements that are made on businesses. Deputy Charles Ward, my Donegal colleague, is here and when I hear about deregulation, I am mindful of what the defective concrete block scandal is costing us right now. We are going to have to pay billions of euro because of light regulation. I really do not want us to go down that road again. The Irish Coalition for Business and Human Rights, whose members include ICTU, Christian Aid Ireland, Trócaire, Oxfam, Friends of the Earth Ireland and many other civil organisations and academic experts, says that CSDDD will not be effective unless it includes maintaining the CSDDD risk-based approach to due diligence and allowing companies to focus on prioritising those risks to human rights and the environment within their chain of activity. We really need to get this right.
Sentiment score: -0.30
I do not think the two things are contradictory in the sense of what we need to do in this space. Obviously, we need to do everything. Small and medium businesses are really struggling right now but we do not need to sacrifice, for example, how we are going to meet our emissions targets or how we are going to ensure that employees' and workers' rights are protected within this space. Maintaining the CSDDD harmonised civil liability regime to prevent fragmentation and increased legal costs and ensuring justice for victims are really important. We also need to ensure that the CSDDD requirement to put into effect climate transition plans is maintained. We need to protect the CSDDD provisions on stakeholder engagement. The changes brought about by the omnibus proposal not only render the CSDDD ineffective by making sure that companies will fail to identify the most severe risks that take place further down their value chains, but also fail in their stated aim of simplifying legislation. The changes will mean that all due diligence obligations are passed to suppliers. There is a way of getting this right but we need to get the balance right.
Sentiment score: 0.16
5. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment the supports his Department is providing to companies impacted by the receivership announcement of a company (details supplied) to prevent further closures and job losses; the steps his Department is taking to ensure the packages held by the company are delivered to their owners; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62267/25]
Sentiment score: 0.13
I want to speak further about Fastway because there is so much to be spoken about. The Minister knows that Fastway is built on a network of local franchisees and subcontractors, many of whom have been the backbone of parcel delivery in rural and regional Ireland. These are small family-run operations which have invested heavily, some of them up to €70,000 in recent months, in vehicles, equipment and staff. That has been based on trust in the system. They worked hard during the pandemic to deliver items to homes in lockdown. Many of them are owed significant sums of money, with no clarity on whether they will ever see it. They are left in limbo too.
Sentiment score: 0.11
Some of that information is useful. I thank the Minister for it. I commend my colleagues Senator Maria McCormack and Councillor Claire Murray who are working in the Laois area and who pulled together all the agencies last week to try to get as much information as possible for people. This is not just a commercial issue; it is about jobs and livelihoods. Every unpaid franchisee and subcontractor struggling to keep afloat represents a potential job loss and another business at risk. I want to ask the Minister about the packages. He stated that they are not his responsibility, but many small retailers and online sellers have valuable stock that is tied up and that cannot be delivered to their customers. For some, this could represent a critical portion of their Christmas trade. We need to do something to protect those people's jobs. Some of these businesses went to An Post but it stated that it cannot manage the deliveries they need. We are coming into a critical period during which small businesses make a lot of their money.
Sentiment score: 0.11
This incident once again highlights the vulnerability of small operators when large logistic firms collapse. We need to examine the environment in which some companies are allowed to operate. Employees and those who are dependent on them, like subcontractors, need to be notified about what is happening at a very early stage. Earlier, the Minister referred to the fact that we need better corporate law and the ability to investigate, particularly where companies are owned by foreign investment funds. We need to have some way of ensuring that businesses that operate in this State do so in a responsible manner to their employees, the environment and the State. I urge the Minister to treat this not just as a single case of corporate insolvency but also as a wider economic risk and one that could hit hundreds of workers, drivers and small enterprises across the country.
Sentiment score: 0.12