Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2020-10-14
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Richard Boyd Barrett (PBP), Dún Laoghaire

What I am talking about is the failure of the Government to address the situation whereby Debenhams can abuse workers like this. KPMG has very serious questions to answer about the way it is handling the liquidation process, given that there is court evidence from Debenhams that the online business was part of Debenhams Ireland's operation. Every worker knows it to be the case, but nobody is doing anything about it.
Kieran Wallace told workers at meetings that the State could step aside as a creditor and allocate supplementary cash. It made a €1 million offer. If there is nothing the Government or KPMG can do, how come it offered €1 million? If it can offer €1 million it can offer €10 million. I and the workers do not accept that there is nothing the Government can do.
Will the Taoiseach say publicly that no worker, truck driver or anybody else in this country should break the picket of the Debenhams workers? Will he convene a meeting of KPMG and the shop stewards, with a presence from the Government, to discuss how we can get a fair deal for these workers? Will he instruct KPMG to allocate extra cash? If it can offer €1 million, even though it withdrew the offer, why can it not offer more?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2020-10-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:48:41+00:00
Sitting date: 2020-10-14