I am pleased to speak in support of the motion. I commend colleagues in Sinn Féin for deciding to use their weekly Private Member's time to advance the argument for a fairer deal for working people in this country with the support of ICTU colleagues. Many trade union friends and colleagues are in the Gallery this evening and watching online. We rightly spend a lot of time in this House making the case for emergency financial support for working people who are struggling to pay the bills, keep food on the table, and merely keep the lights on. It is partly why the Labour amendment questions the decision to continue with a massive wealth transfer to growing hospitality businesses, money that ought to have been used instead to allow working people to pay a little less income tax this year. It is why we have also said, in the amendment referred to by my colleague, Deputy Lawlor, that young workers must be paid at least the same legal minimum wage rate as the adult colleagues who work alongside them. We spend less time in this Chamber and elsewhere asking ourselves why people who work hard for a living are seeing their living standards slip and their hope for a better future disappear, no matter the shifts that they put in. We rarely ask ourselves what structural problems we are experiencing in this country and what detailed legislative, administrative, regulatory and policy changes we need to introduce to consign that problem, in this rich country, to history. This timely motion goes to the heart of the problem. The Irish exceptionalism on full collective bargaining rights, the norm across the European Union, simply needs to end. We are European when it suits us and Atlanticists when it does not. If I hear one more time from the Minister or any of his colleagues that the voluntarist model of industrial relations is working, I will scream. It is a sham and a scam. It is intellectually and politically dishonest. It is an observable fact the world over that economies with industrial strategies that embed strong legislative frameworks and cultural norms of trade union access and collective bargaining rights are the best, most productive and most innovative economies on the planet. It is why Denmark, Finland, Germany and Sweden are well ahead of us. It is why they will continue to be ahead of us and to be more competitive. The voluntarist model has not served working people well. Why? One in five working people is low paid. A plethora of economic sectors are addicted to low pay, subsidised by the State. There is a broken social contract and rising welfare supports for the working poor, rather than the alternative. What is the alternative? Better legal collective bargaining arrangements backed by the State to more fairly distribute the fruits of the labour of PAYE workers. Neither has the voluntarist model served the interests of our economy, if we are to be honest with one another. Collective bargaining gives certainty to business and the economy. Change is negotiated. Skills are enhanced. Innovation happens in a planned way. True competitiveness is maintained, rather than a race to the bottom for short-term profit over long-term sustainability. The evidence for collective bargaining is there but it is now clear, despite the Minister's claims to the contrary, that this is a Government with an ideological opposition to collective bargaining. It is on the wrong side of history. I am intrigued by the claim in the countermotion about the action plan on collective bargaining. It is very interesting. Yes, some actions have been delivered - the low-hanging fruit, not the difficult, challenging parts. The Minister is part of a jammy Government - a Government that is presiding over the fruits of an economic surplus and of unparalleled and uninterrupted growth. It is nothing to do with the genius of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. It has fallen into their lap but they do not know how to make this rich country that feels so poor better for the majority of us. Sometimes the stories we tell ourselves as a country, we simply do not recognise. Any of us who cares about our country can and should be proud of our economic success but it is what is done with that success that matters. I looked at the Government countermotion and it confounds me as a representative of working people. Why would a Government in a rich country renege on a solemn promise made before the election to introduce modest extended sick pay schemes and put a commitment made to the lowest paid for a real living wage on the never-never? It is proof, if needed, that were it not for the Labour Party establishing the Low Pay Commission 11 years ago, we would not have seen annual rises in the national minimum wage each year since 2015. I commend our colleagues on introducing this motion. We support it.

Sentiment score: 0.17