Paul Murphy: Condemns Ministers for Rejecting Cahal Duffy Protections
Paul Murphy criticised the government's response to the Cahal Duffy Report, arguing the ministers refused to implement key protections for workers. He said collective redundancy agreements for Cleary's, Debenhams and other workers were rejected and recommended sanctions were watered down.
Main criticism
He accused the ministers of effectively doing "absolutely nothing" in response to the Cahal Duffy Report and of rejecting the central demand that collective redundancy agreements be honoured in the liquidation process.
Sanctions reduced
The Cahal Duffy Report recommended sanctions up to two years' pay for companies that fail to provide proper consultation before liquidation. The ministers proposed a greatly reduced four-week sanction, which he described as a mere "slap on the wrist."
Labour Court and director restrictions rejected
He noted that ICTU's call for Labour Court awards to be given preference in winding up has been rejected. The proposal to restrict directors who break workers' rights from moving on to other directorships was also dismissed by the ministers.
Impact on Cleary's and Debenhams workers
He argued five years of delay meant Debenhams workers were left without legal protection when their company wound down, and he framed the ministers' response as a betrayal of Cleary's, Debenhams and other affected workers.
Call on the Taoiseach to act
He directly challenged the Taoiseach to intervene to ensure the full implementation of the Cahal Duffy proposals rather than accepting what he called a whitewash of protections for workers.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
Teachta, five years ago, after Cleary's left their workers high and dry, the Cahal Duffy Report proposed a series of measures to prevent that from happening again. Five years of delay meant that the Debenhams workers were left without legal protection when their company did the same to them. But always the promise was that the government would eventually take action. Last week, your government announced what it is going to do about the key recommendations of the Cahal Duffy Report. Absolutely nothing. The key demand of the Cleary's, Debenhams and other workers that their collective redundancy agreements be honoured in the liquidation process has been rejected by Ministers Troy and English. The Cahal Duffy Report recommended that companies who fail to provide proper consultation before liquidation should face serious sanctions up to two years' worth of pay. Ministers Troy and English want to overrule that recommendation and continue with a greatly reduced four-week sanction, a mere slap on the wrist. ICTU's call for a Labour Court awards to be given preference in winding up has also been rejected, as has the proposal that directors of companies who break workers' rights should be restricted from simply moving on to other company directorships. Taoiseach, how can you stand over this whitewash report from your ministers? Instead of pushing through with this betrayal of Cleary's and Debenhams' workers, will you intervene now to ensure that Cahal Duffy proposals are implemented in full to protect workers? ICTU's.'s. iCTU's.
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
