Richard Boyd Barrett: Demands Duffy Report and Justice for Debenhams
Richard Boyd Barrett criticised the Government for deleting his motion on the Debenhams workers and replacing it with vague reviews. He demanded the Duffy Cattle Report be implemented in legislation and pressed the Government and banks to secure proper redundancy for workers.
Government response and motion deletion
He accused the Government and Deputy Lehar of trying to muddy the waters by deleting the motion and substituting vague promises of reviews, offering no tangible commitments and effectively restating existing law.
Call to legislate the Duffy Cattle Report
He urged that the Duffy Cattle Report be implemented into legislation so the treatment of the Debenhams workers cannot be repeated. He noted it has been five years since that report and referenced prior inquiries such as Cleary's and earlier cases including Vita Cortex, Licenza and Thomas Cook as evidence of ongoing inaction.
Liquidators and priority creditor powers
He said liquidators had indicated the Government, as a priority creditor, could instruct them to dispose of assets in favour of workers. He criticised the lack of a direct response and demanded a clear commitment from the Government to give that instruction.
Bank of Ireland and redundancy payments
He called on the Government to confront Bank of Ireland, alleging the bank was directly involved in triggering the process and that consortium interests had led to the cynical dumping of 1,400 workers. He insisted the bank should be told to ensure proper redundancy is paid by the consortium.
Workers' protest and hope
He praised the Debenhams workers for 100 days of determined protest, saying their bravery forced the issue onto the Dáil and secured meetings with ministers. He described their determination as inspiring and argued a successful outcome would be a victory for all workers potentially facing similar treatment.
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The Government and Deputy Lehar tried to muddy the waters, try and deflect in order to absolve themselves of responsibility for giving a direct answer to the questions that this motion asks of them and to cover the fact that they have deleted our entire motion and replaced it with vague promises of reviews. And no tangible commitments and essentially a recapitulation of existing legislation which implies there really isn't a problem at all. Okay, there's a big problem and our motion doesn't ask for a Socialist Republic, Deputy Lehar, it asks for the Government to implement the Duffy Cattle Report into legislation in order that what is being done to the Debenhams workers can never be done again. You can't commit to it. You can't commit to it. You won't commit to it. So if we're sceptical, it's because it was five years since that report, five years since Cleary's and before that, as I said, this has gone on for years under previous Fianna Fáil governments, Vita Cortex, Licenza, Thomas Cook, it goes on and no action is taken. You can hardly blame us for being sceptical. We ask that. Something we learned from the liquidators, not rent up in some left-wing sort of textbook, but the liquidators themselves said that the Government as priority creditors could instruct them to dispose of the assets in favour of the workers. And you still haven't responded to that simple point. Give the instruction. Give the commitment then that you will go to Bank of Ireland. Bank of Ireland are directly involved, directly involved in triggering the process for their own interests and for the profits of their shareholders that has led to the cynical dumping of 1,400 workers. Are you going to go in and tell Bank of Ireland this is not acceptable and to insist the proper redundancy is paid to the workers by the consortium of which they are a part and indeed they almost certainly were involved in engineering the dumping of debt onto the Irish company in order to take the assets off the books. And finally, I'll just say to this, to the Debenham's workers, do not listen to Deputy Hart when he downplays protest. I was talking to the shop stewards just now and they said they are hopeful. They're hopeful because it's been debated here in the Dáil tonight. They're hopeful because they met government ministers. But the reason any of that has happened is because they have been determined in their protest for 100 days. It is the protest of those workers, their inspiring determination, their bravery and their courage that has forced this issue onto the agenda of this House and forced the government to meet them. And it is that determination, that inspiring heroism by the Debenhams workers that will see this battle to a successful conclusion. A conclusion which if it is victorious for the workers would be a victory not just for the Debenhams workers but for every single worker in this country who could face similar treatment in the future. A conclusion which if it is the way of leaving the public, the government was the first to join us with them, they say that they are encouraging me to go out to the election. Because finally, the president of the United States, employees said that they will continue to fight back with them since the same time.
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