Strengthening Workers' Rights: Motion [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-28
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Rose Conway-Walsh (SF), Mayo

I thank all my colleagues for their contributions. I have to say I am dismayed to see the lack of Government speakers on this important issue tonight. It does not bode well. It sends a message out to workers that there is nothing more to see here. I am really disappointed. I thank all of the Opposition for their contributions. I acknowledge the work of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the engagement we had earlier today. Its contribution reflected the lived reality of workers across the State and their voices deserved to be heard.
Our motion was grounded in two simple but urgent priorities: supporting workers through the ongoing cost-of-living crisis and expanding collective bargaining so workers have a real voice in the workplace. I will address a couple of points. This nonsense that there is no constitutional or legal impediment which prevents parties who wish to exercise their right to collective bargaining from freely doing so shows how out of touch the Government is with the reality of the way workers are treated when they try to access a union. Without having that legal provision there, it will not work and has not worked. There are companies that have branches in other jurisdictions which have that legal right to access trade unions. It is not right.
It shows companies are well able to do that.
I want to also address the position of small and medium businesses because we all care about competitiveness. That is why, in our alternative budget, Sinn Féin provided for a PRSI rebate to address those issue and to address the inequity where small employers may need an extra bit of help. There is a surplus in the National Training Fund. We just need a bit of imagination. However, we must collectively agree that everyone has to have access to a union and legal access to a union. That will not go away so my message to the Government tonight is that everyone should have a legal right to access a union.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-28/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:52+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-28