Ciarán Ahern
Dublin South-West · Labour Party · Ireland
“What we are asking for today is simply that the Government lives up to the commitment made in the programme for Government to carry out a new, independent feasibility study for an extension of the MetroLink from where it is currently due to end in Charlemont, out to Dublin south west.”
“It examined quite a nonsensical route that finished abruptly in Knocklyon, and therefore it significantly underestimated the cost benefit of the project.”
“This all comes back to funding our schools. All too often, despite the much publicised overspend in the education budget, schools still have to fight tooth and nail to get the resources they need. I never predicted that so much of my time as a TD would be spent working with local schools on funding and resourcing issues.”
“As the capitation grant is not covering basic operating costs, many school boards feel that to avoid running deficits, which they will get into trouble for from their governing bodies, they have to find funds elsewhere.”
“As the Minister knows, parents are paying hand over fist for ancillary school costs, be it for school uniforms, laptops, school transport or the so-called voluntary contributions. We cannot say we have free education in this country if the whole architecture that enables proper participation is hugely expensive for parents.”
“Some parents are now having to pay hundreds of euro for devices if their children are to just fully participate in school. As this motion states, we are at risk of creating a digital divide and new inequalities in our education system unless we put further supports in place for low-income families. Kevin Shortall, principal of St.”
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“There is a real risk of function creep inherent in any expansion of police powers and that risk was raised during pre-legislative scrutiny of this Bill. A pattern can often be observed whereby a system is introduced for one purpose but over time, it extends to additional purposes beyond the original intent. The Minister's stated intention to bring forward greater powers in later legislation is in and of itself a brazen attempt at scope creep and it makes it very hard to assess this Bill on its own merits. The many issues with live FRT for policing are well-documented. Some jurisdictions in the US, including Boston and San Francisco, have banned the use of live FRT technology by their police forces.”
“Why does it need to go further with measures that have been shown in other jurisdictions to be deeply flawed and risky? What is the use-case for live facial recognition technology, FRT? Does the Minister intend to develop a national database of faces? Live FRT has serious implications for the right to privacy and the right to protest, and there is also the fact that it is discriminatory in who it targets and isolates. Furthermore, why is the Government taking a piecemeal approach here? Muddying the waters like this risks confusing the debate and hampering scrutiny of this Bill. It is very difficult to have a fulsome discussion of this Bill and its relatively limited provisions with the spectre of far more sweeping changes looming.”
“If they are treated with the care the risks here deserve and if they are accompanied by full and proper safeguards and wide consultation on the code of practice, they should not in and of themselves be a huge cause for concern. However, the Government and the Minister have made it clear that they intend this to be just the start. In July of this year, the Minister stated that this first Bill would be followed by "a second piece of legislation that will provide for retrospective and potentially live biometric identification and analysis beyond what is contained in the original Bill." The Minister confirmed his intention to do this earlier today. I was listening to the debate. This raises several issues. First and most importantly, the Government needs to come clean and spell out exactly why the measures in this Bill will not be sufficient.”
“This would involve the automated retrospective searching of documents, footage and images that the Garda has obtained in the course of an investigation to categorise or sort the material based on recognisable human characteristics. We are told this will only be permitted in cases of an arrestable offence punishable by five years or more imprisonment, missing persons cases or for the protection of national security. This legislation does not allow for live facial recognition or for identification by comparison to a database of biometric data. On the face of it, therefore, the proposals made in this Bill are reasonably limited in scope.”
“Where proper safeguards are in place, when biases are mitigated and clear guidance is given, new technologies can, of course, help An Garda Síochána, which is all too often under-resourced and neglected, to do its vital work. However, the Labour Party has also been clear about where we must draw the line. We were elected at the last general election on a manifesto that was against the widespread use of facial recognition technology due to serious concerns about the privacy, trust and data protection issues arising from mass surveillance. From the off, we should be clear about what this Bill does and does not do. It would allow An Garda Síochána to carry out biometric analysis, subject to a code of practice to be drawn up by the Garda Commissioner and laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas.”
“Supporting our gardaí in the difficult work of policing cannot just take the shape of nice words, however. It needs to mean giving them the resources, training and support they need to do the job effectively and safely. That means equipping them with the technology and powers they need. However, we must always be conscious of the risks inherent in any expansion of police powers and must work to carefully mitigate, balance and safeguard these against the risks. The Labour Party does not oppose new, useful technologies where they can play an important role. It is important, after all, that our policing moves with the times and is equipped to respond to new threats and do so in an efficient manner. We supported the introduction of Garda bodycams through the previous recording devices Bill in 2023 on that basis.”
“In the spirit of this being the last sitting day before Christmas, I want to say happy Christmas and thank you to the Ceann Comhairle and my colleagues in opposition and in government. It is a privilege to have served my first year as a TD for Dublin South-West and to work with Deputies on all sides of the House in trying to bring about a better Ireland. I know everyone here is doing it in good faith. It is a privilege to be a part of it. Happy Christmas to everyone. We in the Labour Party have a proud record of supporting An Garda Síochána to do the vital job of keeping our communities safe. Each and every day, front-line gardaí put themselves at risk carrying out the difficult job of patrolling our streets, protecting our public and regularly facing scenes of the most traumatic and difficult nature.”
“This is a transport link that could go a long way towards addressing the traffic chaos that we have seen on the M50 and the N7. Will the Government urgently reverse course on DART south-west and will it provide us with a functioning, robust public transport system in our capital city?”
“The Luas green line remains out of action today. It has been about 24 hours since it went down and we do not know when it will be back. This is causing significant disruption and frustration for commuters across Dublin. Businesses across the city are also concerned, particularly as we are in the lead up to the busy Christmas shopping period. The fact that one Luas line going down can cause such havoc in our capital city is indicative of how poorly our city is served by its public transport links. Contrary to what the residents of Dartmouth Square might think, it is vital that we also have a metro serving our capital city, including the south and south-west of the city, in time. We are over-reliant on too few public transport links currently. We have seen this Government delay the shovel-ready DART south-west project.”
“Whether it is in keeping our kids safe online or protecting our public sphere from the effects of abuse and intimidation, we need to see an active State that looks at the evidence and puts in place workable, effective solutions.”
“Ultimately, it is our democracy itself that suffers and that is something that should deeply worry all of us in this House. We need to see real action from online platforms in tackling this kind of abuse and harassment and action from the regulator ensuring they do so. Standards have been allowed to slip for too long. We cannot allow algorithms which reward abusive content to continue to feed a culture of intimidation online. There has been some good progress in the area of online safety in recent years - progress that we as a country can be justifiably proud of - but in a fast moving online world, it is clear that standing still is not an option.”
“As public figures, so to speak, some of us will have been targeted online. It has got exponentially worse over the past number of years. We must never accept a situation where public representatives going about their work to serve their communities are put at risk or where people, particularly women and minorities, are afraid to put their head above the parapet and engage in public life for fear of what might come their way online. Torrents of abuse, targeted harassment and even threats are the daily reality for women and minorities, in particular, who are brave enough to engage in public life. Criticism, of course, is valid and debate is welcome. Disagreement is a necessary part of our political processes but intimidation and harassment achieve nothing except to push good people away from engaging in the process at all.”
“We all will be watching Australia closely in that regard. These are big challenges, and we should be looking across the world for evidence and best practice examples in terms of the solutions other countries are putting in place. At EU level, we must work with other like-minded member states to resist any and all efforts to water down our existing online safety regulations. We are already seeing, with the Commission's so-called Digital Omnibus, a move towards deregulation that risks rolling back the progress that has been made so far. Data protection rights, for example, seem to be in the firing line. These are hard won protections and they are in place for good reason. We should be clear in standing up for what has been achieved so far. I will touch also on the issue of online harassment and abuse.”
“The only answer is to look towards best practice and the evidence to come up with evolving solutions to respond to the changing threats of the day. The Government's announcement this week of the piloting of an age verification system through a digital wallet is worthy of consideration and it shows a government that is interested and active in getting this right. We welcome that but we must be crystal clear that any solution here, whether based on age verification or otherwise, must be effective, workable and safe. That means people's right to privacy must be protected and solutions must respect existing data protection laws. It also means it must do what it sets out to do, and provide an effective way of keeping children away from harmful content in a workable and enforceable manner.”
“It is about recognising the scale of the challenge, the pace of the dangers coming towards us and the responsibility we have, collectively, to act. We can all see the effects of addictive recommender algorithms that target and manipulate children in particular, turning their curiosity and attention into a commodity to be milked for profit. We see the devastating effects of cyberbullying and online harassment, we see children encountering damaging material online, whether that is violent content, pornographic content or hateful content, and we see the proliferation of the disinformation and manipulation that is plaguing democracies right across the world. We are increasingly seeing that in our own country - in our own democracy. There are no easy answers here.”
“Research shows that social media algorithms, including TikTok's, can funnel boys towards misogynistic and extremist content within minutes of first using the app. What begins as possibly a harmless interest in fitness, gaming, motivational videos, etc., can quickly become exposure to violent, demeaning, and hyper-aggressive content that normalises misogyny and peddles distorted ideas of masculinity. Teachers are reporting misogynistic attitudes in classrooms and playgrounds that are being reinforced by what boys are being pushed to watch online. We are dealing not only with harmful content but a system designed to amplify whatever keeps users engaged, regardless of its impact on well-being or safety. This is not about opposing technology or technological progress.”
“The investigation also identified gambling-style mechanics available to under-13s, as well as children begging strangers for the platform's currency, something gardaí say has already been exploited by predators to coerce children here into harmful behaviour, including self-harm and attempted suicide. Irish children are being groomed on these platforms and one of the greatest risks is the ease with which adults and children can communicate freely and then be moved off-platform into private messaging services, where there is no oversight at all. These issues extend far beyond Roblox. Across the social media landscape, we are witnessing a deeply troubling rise in algorithm-driven harm.”
“He spoke of grooming, sexual exploitation, and abuse not as an occasional occurrence but as something that happens every day. To understand what children are experiencing, the "RTÉ Investigates" team set up accounts as if they were a five-year-old, a nine-year-old and a 13-year-old. At no point were they asked for age verification. At no point were they prompted to enable parental controls. Once inside the platform, they encountered, in experiences rated as suitable for children, sexualised role-play, simulated sexual acts, racial slurs and discussions of suicide. This was not hidden, deep-web material. This was found within roughly 12 hours of normal game play on a platform used by over 150 million people daily, one third of whom are under 13.”
“Across Ireland and the world, parents are calling for clearer and stronger action to keep children safe online. They are not calling for perfection or censorship. They are calling for basic, enforceable safeguards to protect their children from exploitation, bullying and exposure to harmful content. Last month, every parent in this country watched in horror a "RTÉ Investigates" report into Roblox, one of the most popular gaming platforms used by primary school children. What that programme revealed is nothing short of alarming. A senior garda from the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau, Detective Superintendent Michael Mullen, warned that children are being groomed and exploited on online gaming platforms at "an alarming scale".”
“It is welcome that the Government appears to be taking this seriously. The Online Safety and Media Regulation Act was an important step forward and the work of Coimisiún na Meán and the Online Safety Commissioner in implementing those regulations, along with the corresponding EU legislation, is vital. Of course, this is a fast-moving area, where the issues and threats we face develop and shift from month to month, never mind from year to year. We only need to look at the rapid development of Al chatbots in the three years since the enactment of the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act to make clear just how quickly developments are happening. We cannot rest on our laurels. We need to be agile and respond to new issues and threats as they arise.”
“They control what we see, how we interact with each other online and how we view ourselves and others. This is, without doubt, having an impact on the well-being of young people. There is a moral imperative on any government to stand up to the tech giants and ensure they do what is needed to keep us all safe online and, in particular, keep our children safe. Ireland, as the home to many of these online power holders, holds a particularly important position. We can and must be global leaders in online safety, setting a course for others to follow. Working with our friends and colleagues in Europe, we can and must play a vital role in crafting an online world that puts safety before the profits or the protests of tech barons. The Elon Musks of this world can never be allowed to dictate how we keep our citizens or our children safe online.”
“It launched a campaign to encourage young people to take time off from being online, use social media safely, explore other interests and, very importantly, see their friends in real life. Mental health and social media are intrinsically linked, as study after study tells us. Social media, and the online world more generally, are where we are most often confronted by material and behaviour that is harmful, dangerous or downright illegal. It is where algorithms, addictive by design, reward division and hate, promote the most harmful content and prey on our children’s attention for profit. An upshot of how embedded the online world has become in our daily lives is that the owners of the platforms we use every day - Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, X and TikTok - have an influence over us that no private corporations should have.”
“I thank the Minister for providing us with time to discuss what is without question one of the most pressing issues we face in an increasingly digitalised world. We all live our lives online. It is where we work, shop, find our entertainment and, increasingly, where we socialise and young people find their communities. Many young people almost have a parallel online life to their life in the real world. I had the pleasure of attending the South Dublin Comhairle na nÓg annual youth conference recently. Comhairle na nÓg had conducted a survey among young people which highlighted that managing their social media and mental health are two of the biggest issues impacting on them.”
“I understand a statutory instrument is required, which can only be signed by the Minister for Transport following approval of a business case by three separate Departments, the Office of the Attorney General and NewERA financial advisers. We understand that a bit of work needs to be done on the Government's side, but it is seven months later and I understand the statutory instrument still has not been finalised. Will the Taoiseach ensure this process is expedited?”
“As the Taoiseach will be aware, there was great relief back in May after the positive outcome of the ballot on a pension increase for members of the CIÉ superannuation scheme 1951 after 18 years without an increase. I pay tribute to the members of the scheme, the CIÉ Salaried Pensioners' Association and the trade union group for their tireless advocacy on the matter. To be fair, the Government has finally sorted it, but now there is growing frustration among the 2,305 members of the scheme that the increase agreed back in May still has not been received. My colleague, Duncan Smith, was in the Chamber last week talking about An Post pensioners who were going through similar issues.”
“The same goes for the Fingal Luas and the Cork Luas. The Government is choosing to build a ring road around Galway rather than a Luas, despite the fact that the M50 is a perfect example of a ring road that just does not function any more. Adding more lanes has simply added more cars and more congestion. We are failing to learn the lessons of the past. Will the Government rethink its plan and give the Dáil an opportunity to debate it in the House next week?”
“Earlier this week, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, waved the white flag on the M50. It basically said it is full and there is nothing it can do to address congestion. Commuters are stuck in their cars and wasting their time. The situation is costing our economy, climate and public health. Instead of focusing on the causes of this gridlock, which is a lack of public transport in this country, the Government has chosen this week to launch a transport plan that returns to old vices like building roads and bypasses while delaying much-needed public transport projects. The Government is giving out about judicial reviews delaying critical infrastructure projects but DART south west has planning permission and is shovel-ready yet the Government has chosen to push it out to 2030 at the earliest.”
“My Bill would ensure that ends, and that data centres cannot build any new fossil-fuel infrastructure, but rather provide their own renewable energy and contribute towards our efforts to decarbonise our economy and our public services. I will conclude by reiterating that this issue – alleviating the struggle that people are facing with soaring energy costs and the cost-of-living crisis more generally – is about political choices. It was a political choice to give a massive VAT cut to burger barons and big developers while denying vulnerable households supports like the energy credits they have desperately relied on over the past couple of years. It is a political choice to allow energy companies to run riot and I ask the Minister to seriously consider my proposal today.”
“Essentially, this will mean that for every megawatt that data centres take from the grid, they have to give back a megawatt of clean, renewable energy that they have generated themselves - in effect, neutralising their energy demands. Of course, there is also the climate element and the impact data centres have on our emissions. The massive energy demands of these data centres means that they guzzle through fossil fuels and they are taking basically all of the relatively small amount of renewable energy we are currently producing. That is renewable energy that could be used to decarbonise our homes, reduce bills or electrify our public transport.”
“This follows the Secretary General in the Minister’s own Department of energy saying that the Government must choose between the power demands of data centres and building homes. Ordinary, working families are paying for this and, quite simply, it is wrong. The billions of euro now thankfully being poured into updating and upgrading our grid are being used to accommodate these large energy users like data centres. It is being paid for by households. I introduced a Bill last week, the Electricity Regulations (Climate Action and Connection to Distribution and Transmission Systems) Bill 2025, which attempts to deal with part of this issue. It would give the CRU the power to ensure that data centres generate their own on-site renewable energy, which would compliment draft proposals on regulation published by the CRU earlier in the year.”
“The Minister should be looking to exploit those exceptional circumstances provisions in the EU rules in order to rein in energy companies and making the case for this to the European Commission. I would also like to briefly raise the CRU’s draft price review six. It is pretty outrageous that it is proposing that we increase costs on households while giving a discount on energy prices to data centres, the same data centres putting our energy system under enormous pressure – a 412% increase in electricity usage in the past ten years – leading to increases in costs for ordinary households. The Government knows this. The Secretary General in the Department of public expenditure has said that soaring electricity demand is largely attributable to data centres. We know that demand is expected to grow to 30% of our national energy use by 2030.”
“The profits of these energy companies are on the public record. There is nothing wrong with calling them out here. As I have said, it appears to be much more than a coincidence that they are all raising their prices at the same time, or one after another. They are almost using it as an excuse. When one raises their prices, another uses that as an excuse to also raise their prices. This is hardly the sign of a well-functioning and competitive market. Under EU electricity and gas directives, price regulation is allowed in exceptional circumstances, such as when competition is not working, or indeed, in order to protect vulnerable customers. We are very much approaching the point where we can claim on the basis of the evidence we are seeing at the moment that competition in the Irish energy markets has failed.”
“That was true even prior to Brexit, when EU competition law applied in the North, because the European Commission accepted the case that there were less competitive dynamics in the North and regulation of Power NI’s tariffs were continued as a public service measure. This poses a question for us. Have the competitive dynamics that enabled the liberalisation of our energy markets back in the 2010s been a success? Have they delivered better prices and a better service for households? I would find it hard to argue that they have. Competition has not delivered better and fair prices for consumers. Instead, it seems that energy companies have given up on the idea of competing with each other, and a price hike by one gives an excuse for a price hike to the rest. All of these matters I am raising are on the public record.”
“The ESB, via Electric Ireland, still holds a large market share by virtue of its once-monopolised position but some time ago the CRU deemed that competition had developed to an extent that it judged that it was effective enough to protect consumers and keep prices down. Once that happened, EU rules meant it could no longer justify blanket price regulation and so regulations were lifted. If we look to the North, however, Power NI is a former monopoly provider, similar to how the ESB was here in the South. As Power NI still holds a very large share of the domestic market, its tariffs are regulated by the Utility Regulator to ensure that customers are protected and that prices remain fair.”
“Understood. I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach. However, this needs to be called out and I have asked the Minister before to start looking seriously at ways we can reintroduce some level of regulation of energy prices beyond network tariffs. I am not suggesting that is easy but there are carve-outs in EU competition law that allow for price regulation in order to protect customers. We should be exploring these options and I will provide some context for this request. Under EU energy market rules, our electricity and gas markets have been fully liberalised. The Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, judged competition to be effective in the electricity market in 2011 and in the gas market in 2014.”
“The energy market is supposed to be competitive but these companies are carrying on more like cartels, like an oligarchy. As I have called for again in this House, the Minister needs to start looking-----”
“Energia increased electricity prices by more than 12% after making a very healthy €154 million in profits last year. SSE Airtricity had a 9.5% increase in electricity prices, its second hike this year after a 10.5% increase in electricity in April, alongside an 8.4% rise in gas prices. SSE Airtricity's most recent accounts show a €111 million operating profit. It is hard to see this as anything other than blatant greed and ordinary families, many of whom are already struggling, are paying for it. How are they supposed to cope? The energy credits, as imperfect as they were, were a lifeline for so many people but the bigger picture is that these energy companies need to be reined in. The gross profiteering in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, which is almost capitalising on the cost-of-living crisis, needs to be called out.”
“Three years should have provided more than enough time to have devised a way to target the credits more effectively. Either the Government could not do it or it would not. As I have said before in this House, if we are talking about energy costs we need to talk about the energy companies themselves as well, and the profiteering and the outright greed that has been on display over the last few months. I will give a few examples. Flogas has hiked its prices by 7% after its parent company, DCC, recorded operating profits of €820 million in its most recent accounts. Bord Gáis Energy, after a year in which it made €75 million in profits, raised its prices by 13.5%, adding €218 a year to the average bill. Pinergy went up almost 10% after having increased its revenues by nearly 40% in 2024.”
“We can, though, hand over more than €630 million in VAT cuts to the hospitality sector. It is ridiculous and offensive. We should have seen targeted energy credits in the budget, not the pre-election sweeteners that were given out to everyone by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in the previous couple of budgets, but actual supports given to those who need it most. There are 300,000 people are in arrears on their electricity bills and 185,000 are in arrears on their gas bills. They are the people who should have been supported with meaningful and targeted measures in the budget but they were let down by this Government. It is three years since the first universal energy credits were paid out. This Government is, with a few exceptions, broadly the same as the previous one.”
“We are seeing parents going hungry so that their children are fed and others are going without heating in their homes, or taking on debt to keep the lights on. The Government had the chance to alleviate some of that burden in the recent budget but against the advice of officials chose not to – a conscious choice. It was a conscious choice not to support some of the most vulnerable households with targeted energy credits that I and the Labour Party had been calling for. There was a conscious choice to instead give a needless tax cut to the likes of McDonald's and big property developers. The cost-of-living crisis has perhaps never been so acute but now that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have bought the votes they needed to get back into Government, we now cannot afford to give people the little bit of support they need to get through.”
“For the past number of years under Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil Governments we have seen what feels like a permanent cost-of-living crisis. People are being squeezed from every angle, be it grocery price inflation, the cost of renting or buying a home or childcare costs, something the Government has been conspicuously silent on since the promise of it costing €200 a month. We know student fees are going to be increasing. Compounding it all, we have the matter at hand, which is energy bills. The Barnardos report during the summer was really eye-opening in terms of just how stark the picture really is for families, especially vulnerable ones. Some 40% of parents have been forced into borrowing money to help pay for essentials for their children, while lone parents were disproportionately more likely to cut back on those essentials.”
“It sailed through these Houses almost ten years ago, almost without a whimper, much to the credit of the then Minister, Joan Burton, and the then Minister of State, Kevin Humphreys. How is it that, ten years later, the discourse around these matters has become one of such intolerance and exclusion? Trans people have always existed and will always exist. They deserve to live happy and fulfilling lives on the same terms as the rest of us. If we are to really vindicate trans people's rights to be themselves, then we need to put the provisions of the motion into action. I commend the motion to the House.”
“I was struck by Kathy Sheridan's piece in The Irish Times last week because it summed up my feelings perfectly. She spoke about the absence of kindness in debates around trans people. I hate to use the word "debate" when speaking about the rights of people. This is a group of people - less than 1% of our population - that amounts to an absolutely tiny cohort of marginalised and often vulnerable people. Regardless of how few trans people there are in Ireland or elsewhere, every single one deserves the respect, empathy and dignity we would all hope to receive. I want Ireland to be a beacon of kindness and compassion towards trans people. I want us to reject the cruel, regressive and bigoted rhetoric that we have seen levelled against trans people here and elsewhere. The Gender Recognition Act was not perfect, but it was a good first step.”
“The level of vitriol towards trans people is particularly vicious, enabled and encouraged by influential and powerful figures globally. Certain Members of this House also have a lot to answer for as they seek to engage in imported culture wars.”
“An article in The Journal earlier this year featured interviews with trans people who felt traumatised by their experience with the national gender service. Is that the kind of healthcare we want to deliver to anyone in Ireland? Do we want to be the kind of society that leaves people who are in need of care traumatised? This motion calls for an informed-consent model. This is the way forward. Such a model includes trans people, does not presume that their identity is something that must be interrogated and supports them in transitioning to who they really are. We need to situate this in the broader context of how discourse around gender issues and trans rights has developed in the last number of years. We are in a very concerning place. Hate directed towards members of the LGBTQ+ community is on the rise.”
“I formally second the motion. We all would have hoped that ten years on from the Gender Recognition Act, we would be a lot further along in ensuring that trans people can get the care they need and deserve but progress has stalled when it comes to truly vindicating trans people's right to be themselves. In a country that has proudly made such strides forward in so many ways, it is utterly shameful that we are ranked the worst in Europe in terms of trans healthcare. The national gender service, as Deputy Sherlock and others have said, is not fit for purpose. I have heard from trans people that its approach is invasive, demeaning, insensitive and ultimately leaves them feeling they have to prove who they are and justify their existence.”
“Workers’ rights must evolve in line with the realities of modern work. Technology, industries and expectations change but the need for dignity at work, good working conditions and fair pay does not. We are all, I am sure, enormously proud and grateful for our incredible search and rescue crews and the work they do but that is not reflected in this current arrangement and factoring model. Leaving aside the fact that it breaches both national and EU regulations, as well as binding ECJ case law, it plainly undervalues the work that these crews do. The model needs to be scrapped and I hope the Minister will ensure it is.”
“We have even seen a disregard for workers who are unionised, our school secretaries and caretakers, after the Department of public expenditure pulled out of talks on pension parity. Workers across our economy and our public services are facing issues similar to those faced by our search and rescue crews, including long hours, insufficient rest and blurred boundaries between duty and downtime. Whether in healthcare, transport, emergency services, hospitality, you name it, workers continue to feel the stress of under-resourced systems and an undervaluing of their labour. The situation that has arisen with our search and rescue crews and their treatment under this new arrangement is a particularly stark example but it highlights a broader truth: that the fight for decent pay and working conditions is ongoing.”
“It is also three years since the Government’s own Labour Employer Economic Forum published its report on collective bargaining, but we still have not seen an implementation plan for its recommendations. The fact that the Department of enterprise just this summer put out a public consultation on how to best promote collective bargaining is, quite frankly, laughable. We know the answer. It is by recognising trade unions and ensuring that employers engage with them. I unfortunately have little faith that this Government will do that. It has shown time and again whose side it is on. This Government has enabled VAT cuts for big businesses while postponing the introduction of a living wage and has delayed the increase in statutory sick days.”
“I would like to briefly touch on the wider context of worker’s rights in Ireland. I understand that some winch operators, along with their union, Fórsa, may be taking a case to the Workplace Relations Commission on this issue. If that is the case, I place my support for them on record. There are too many workers in our economy who do not have the safeguard of a union to fight their corner because employers in Ireland are not obliged to recognise or engage with them. That should have changed a long time ago but it definitely should have changed this time last year, at the deadline to transpose the EU’s directive on adequate minimum wages, which explicitly states that the best way to improve wages and working conditions is through collective bargaining. We, of course, have still not transposed that directive.”