Protection of Employees (Employers' Insolvency) (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2026-03-04
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Ollie Crowe (FF), Industrial and Commercial Panel

I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber this afternoon. Fianna Fáil welcomes and supports this Bill, which will make changes to the insolvency payments scheme that protects employees' pay-related entitlements if their employer becomes insolvent. As the Minister of State outlined, the Bill strengthens the safety net for employees when their employer goes out of business. It ensures that workers are not left without pay or legal remedies simply because a company collapses in an unexpected or irregular way.
Under existing legislation, the Protection of Employees (Employers' Insolvency) Act 1984, employees can claim certain unpaid entitlements, such as wages, holiday pay and some statutory awards from the State's insolvency payment scheme when an employer becomes formally insolvent, for example, through liquidation or receivership. Over time, however, it became clear that the law did not fully cover every situation required under EU law, particularly where an employer ceases trading but does not enter a formal insolvency process. This gap created uncertainty and, in some cases, hardship. Employees could find themselves in a situation where their employer had, effectively, shut down and wages were unpaid, but because no formal insolvency step had been taken, those employees were unable to access the State scheme. Obviously, this is an unjust situation for any employee to be in and it needed to be addressed by legislation, which this Bill does.
The primary change this Bill will provide for is to give effect to the Supreme Court judgment in which the court found Ireland had not fully transposed Directive 2008/94/EC, which protects employees' pay-related entitlements. This Bill is also designed to remedy the gap identified in the Supreme Court case. It will ensure that new cohorts of employees are protected under the insolvency payment scheme. It will set up a new statutory process for employees to seek to have their employer deemed to be insolvent. That will then enable the employees to secure their outstanding pay-related entitlements under the insolvency payments scheme. This will extend the scheme's protections to a particularly vulnerable group of workers.
Separately, the Bill will give an employee impacted by the Supreme Court's judgment since October 1983 the opportunity to make a claim. This time-limited scheme will be open for two years, with a further two years possible in exceptional circumstances in the event of their employer's insolvency. Crucially, the Irish legislation, namely, the Protection of Employees (Employers' Insolvency) Act 1984, did not provide protection to employees whose employers go out of business but do not go through an insolvency process such as liquidation or bankruptcy. The Bill addresses such cases. Where such a situation were to arise again, employees could apply for a deemed insolvent determination where their employer ceased trading without formal insolvency proceedings. This means they could more readily access the State scheme to claim unpaid wages, holiday pay and other entitlements. This reform will help to prevent workers from falling through legal gaps and give them a stronger, clearer route to justice and compensation when a company collapses.
These are the entitlements that employees have earned and that should be honoured, regardless of the situation of the company. This Bill will ensure our legislation matches our obligations under EU directives. It will also further enhance the protection of employees in the event of their employer's insolvency. At a relatively small cost, therefore, we will ensure that employees will have sufficient protections and rights in some very difficult situations where the uncertainty of the future is causing considerable stress. I fully support the Bill and I think it will receive widespread support in the House, given that it enhances the protection of workers and provides them with certainty in regard to their legal rights. Go raibh maith agat.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-03-04/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:43+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-04