Ivana Bacik

Company Closures: Motion

Wednesday, 28 September 2011

Senator Ivana Bacik:     I welcome the Minister, Deputy Bruton, to the House and thank him for attending personally to deal with this important motion on the part of the Labour Party Senators. I am grateful to my colleague, Senator Landy, for proposing the motion, particularly given the area from which he comes and his local knowledge. I also acknowledge the presence in the Visitors’ Gallery of Deputy Ann Phelan, who with Deputy Ciara Conway, also of the Labour Party, has been very active on this issue.

In any discussion of a motion such as this, the first matter is to offer our sympathy to the workers at the TalkTalk call centre in Waterford. The devastating loss of 575 jobs was a tragedy for the south east and the Waterford area, in particular. I have a personal interest in jobs in the south east region. My grandfather, Charles Bacik, who came to Ireland from the Czech Republic in 1946, set up Waterford Glass after World War II. At one time that company was the biggest employer in the Waterford area and it was with great sadness we saw its closure. However, a positive story is emerging from Waterford Glass with the new Waterford Crystal showroom which is a great draw to the city. I visited it last year. It is a very impressive facility and there is much manufacturing taking place. I hope this will continue.

There has been very bad news on the jobs front in the south east. As the Minister will be aware, the unemployment rate in the region has consistently been above the national average, being at 18.2% currently, compared with 14.3% nationally. The closure of TalkTalk came in a context where there was already a serious issue in regard to job retention in the south east. As our motion notes, when the job losses were announced, only 30 days’ notice of the closure of the call centre was given to the employees, with no extra notice given to the Government. That was in spite of the fact that the State had provided significant financial incentives to TalkTalk, as we do to multinational companies which establish in the State. When the closure was announced the response of the Government was commendable. As Senator Landy observed, the Minister and other senior members of the Government, including the Tánaiste, visited Waterford and met with the workers from TalkTalk, which was very welcome.

However, as our motion points out, there are reports suggesting that further collective job losses at other companies in the forseeable future may be likely. What we are seeking, therefore, is twofold. First, we propose that greater protections be put in place by this Government to assist employees in any company, including TalkTalk, who face collective redundancy situations. In particular, as Senator Landy stated, we propose that existing legislation be reviewed in order to provide for a longer notice period than 30 days, especially in cases where a large company is proposing to make collective redundancies. We are conscious that an extension of the 30-day period could be made within the terms of the EU directive.

The motion also looks at the bigger picture and commends the Government for the introduction of job creation initiatives. It seeks to explore what else might be done for job creation. We all hope to hear constructive suggestions today in the Seanad as to how job creation strategies could be developed.

We acknowledge the work in job creation already done by this Government in the short time it has been in office. We have put jobs at the top of the agenda, as promised in the programme for Government. We have carried out a number of measures which are already having an impact on job creation and retention, such as the restoration of the national minimum wage, the cutting of PRSI and VAT rates and the introduction of the JobBridge, Springboard and other programmes for job creation and internship schemes, as are noted in the motion.

I turn to the issue of protection of workers in collective redundancy situations. The notice period is a key issue for my party. I emphasise a further issue that was noted by Senator Landy, namely, support from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund and whether further funding can be sought for the TalkTalk workers from that fund. As we heard, funding has already been sought for other mass redundancy situations in companies such as Waterford Crystal, Dell and SR Technics.

There are other issues in regard to redundancy and job losses which are rather different. One point was raised with me on a number of occasions during the general election campaign and I have no doubt it was raised also on doorsteps with many other Members. It concerns self-employed people, entrepreneurs whose businesses collapsed, and who, in many cases, had employed several people. The persons involved have very little protection in this situation which does not fit the definition of redundancy under EU or national law. I raise that point with the Minister, as I have done with the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, under whose remit it comes.

On job creation, the third anniversary of the bank guarantee falls this week, as Senator Barrett pointed out. It is a significant anniversary. It sticks in the throats of all of us to have to see a further recapitalisation of banks and additional billions of euro going to Anglo Irish Bank, which is the subject of the related amendment. However, as the Government has consistently maintained, the restructuring and recapitalisation of banks is necessary in order to ensure that we have economic growth and to get us out of the economic crisis created by the failed policies of the previous Fianna Fáil-led Government. It is not appropriate that we, as proposers of the motion, would accept the amendment, which misses the point of our argument. It is two-fold point which we hope the Minister will address. First, there should be greater protection in collective redundancy cases, particularly with regard to lengthening of the notice period and, second, we should consider how best to ensure job creation and retention policies that work. There were some very positive announcements in the recent past and Senator Landy referred to some in his area. There are also plenty in Dublin taking in development of jobs and creation of further employment backed by the IDA. We hope to see more of it in future.

STATEMENT BY LABOUR SENATORS

Wednesday 28th September, 2011

LABOUR SENATORS SEEK GOVERNMENT ACTION FOLLOWING TALK TALK CLOSURE

The Labour group of Senators have a motion today (3-5pm Wed 28th September) before the Seanad noting the recent closure of the Talk Talk call centre in Waterford, with the consequent devastating loss of 575 jobs, and deploring the lack of notice given to the employees of Talk Talk about the closure.
The Labour Senators will be calling today during their private members’ time for the Government to review existing legislation to consider that a longer notice period than 30 days should be provided by a company, particularly where the company is employing significant numbers of people, and is proposing to make redundancies on a collective scale.

Senator Denis Landy will be proposing the motion, which will be seconded by Senator Ivana Bacik. Other Labour Senators will be contributing to the debate.
Minister Richard Bruton will be in the Seanad to respond to the Labour Senators motion.

ENDS

Order of Business

Thursday, 22 September 2011

Senator Ivana Bacik:     It is fair to say we all deplore the use of the guillotine in this House. It is not ideal but colleagues on both sides of the House appreciate that with the referendum set for 27 October we are constrained on the referendum Bills. Like Senator O’Brien, I would have liked more time to debate this referendum Bill in particular. There was less concern in the public arena about the wording of the judicial pay Bill, and so less need for time on it. The debate on judges’ pay seems to have gone on for a long time, so it was time to draw a line under it.

I ask the Leader for a debate on international trade in the presence of either the Tánaiste or the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O’Sullivan. I seek that debate in the context of this week’s ploughing championships. I welcome back all my colleagues who attended that event, which was hugely successful. It was great to see so many people attend.

Senator Catherine Noone:     We were stuck here.

Senator Ivana Bacik:     It was left to us to be stuck here. As Martyn Turner’s cartoon described in The Irish Times yesterday, it was more like the presidential championships, given the number of candidates and political colleagues there.

An important delegation from China was at the ploughing championships seeking to do business with agricultural interests here. China is a hugely important market for us, as the Tánaiste and his Cabinet colleagues have recognised. We are all now familiar with the acronym BRIC covering the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China. In the university and third-level sector generally we are trying to encourage international students from those countries and the same applies to international trade. It would be useful for us to debate how best to foster links with emerging economies and China in particular. It is worth noting that a former Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, has been forging his own links with China. I see that he is a consultant to major Chinese business interests concerned with building a new city there.

Senator Darragh O’Brien:     We should invite him in for a chat.

Senator Ivana Bacik:     Let us hope the new city in China is not built on foundations of sand.

Senator Darragh O’Brien:     The Senator was doing so well up to that.

Senator Terry Leyden:     Dr. James Reilly has been there too.

Senator Ivana Bacik:     Foundations are inclined not to be so stable with the former Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, as we know from our experience of this country’s economy. We could, however, take a leaf out of Bertie’s book in this case by fostering greater links with China. It would be a worthwhile debate to have in this House. I look forward to having co-operation on it from both sides, even if we have to take a few potshots at Bertie Ahern while doing so.

Order of Business

Wednesday 14^th September 2011

Senator Ivana Bacik:     I join others in welcoming colleagues back. I hope that everyone has had a break over the summer and is ready for the busy and challenging term that lies ahead in which we all hope the Seanad will play a productive and valuable role and in which we will see further progress with the procedural reforms we have begun to make. The Leader referred to the format today for questions and answers with the Minister, Deputy Bruton, which I think we found to be a more valuable way of interacting with Ministers in this House when we had the Minister, Deputy Coveney, in previously. We also need to bring forward the reforms on public consultation and on inviting speakers, with which I know we will proceed.

We all look forward to the debates we will have today on jobs and innovation, tomorrow on transport, next week on the arts, and also on the important legislation, some of which carries a good deal of urgency, particularly the legislation on the referenda on judicial pay and on committee powers. In the context of the job creation debate, given the events of recent weeks, it is worth expressing sympathy with the workers in TalkTalk in Waterford at the closure of the plant and the manner in which it was announced, an issue which Senator Landy and others will raise this afternoon in the House.

Another momentous event that happened over the break was the tenth anniversary of 9/11. It would be useful to have a debate in this House at a future date, either with the Tánaiste or an invited international speaker, on the legacy of 9/11, on the international movement for democracy that we have seen develop this year and which has been called the Arab Spring, and on what we in this House and in this country can do to support those movements for democracy that are fighting so hard in Libya, Syria, Bahrain and other places and that are being suppressed brutally in some of those places. That would be a valuable way to honour the legacy of the many who died in 9/11.

STATEMENT BY SENATOR IVANA BACIK

Labour Party Seanad Leader
Wed 13th July 2011

BACIK WELCOMES CHANGES TO TAX CODE IN FINANCE (NO. 3) BILL 2011

Speaking today in the Seanad during the Second Stage debate on the Finance (No. 3) Bill 2011, Senator Ivana Bacik welcomed the provisions of the Bill which will provide for equivalent treatment in the tax codes for civil partners and married couples.

Senator Bacik said:

“I welcome the introduction of this Bill which is a follow-on bill to the Civil Partnership Act 2010 and which will allow for the necessary changes to be made to the tax code to allow for equivalence of treatment between civil partners and married couples. However, I hope that in the lifetime of this Government that we will go further to provide more follow-on legislation to allow for the rights and responsibilities of gay couples vis-à-vis their children. Indeed, I hope that we will see true equality provided for with the recognition of gay marriage. Civil partnership law allows for important protections for gay couples but it does not provide for full equality.”

Address by President of the European Parliament

Tuesday, 12 July 2011

Senator Ivana Bacik: I welcome President Buzek and thank him for the clear expression of solidarity with us. I have a two-part question. First of all, we welcome the reports that more flexibility is forthcoming from the EU and the IMF concerning the terms of the bailout for Ireland, but what interest rate cut is likely in President Buzek’s view? Second, the context for more flexibility seems to be a concern about the growing financial crisis in Italy. What is plan B for saving the euro and the eurozone if the current propping-up arrangements and bailouts for countries such as Greece, Portugal and ourselves, do not work? Is there a plan B?

Order of Business

29^th June 2011

Senator Ivana Bacik: I am grateful to the Cathaoirleach for the clarification. All of us have found that in practice the Bills Office can be more flexible than might be initially suggested, which is welcome.

This is an opportune day to call for a further debate on methods of bottom-up job creation. On the day the Government is launching the national internship scheme, with places for 5,000 jobs in training, we should congratulate the Minister, Deputy Joan Burton. We should also applaud the launch by the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade this morning of a new creative quarter in the Liberties in Dublin 8. The Fumbally Exchange was set up by George Boyle, a former architect with Murray O’Laoire Architects. Along with a number of colleagues she has set up a new creative hub where start-up design businesses can be established for a very reasonable rent in a quarter that was left decimated by the closure of Murray O’Laoire Architects. Those people should be congratulated for their bottom-up approach to job creation. It is the sort of initiative we should support across the Houses of the Oireachtas and we must do our best to facilitate them.

I ask for a debate on the HSE report produced yesterday by the crisis pregnancy wing of the executive. It detailed the experience of mothers in the workplace and found that, alarmingly, a third of mothers in work during their pregnancy stated that they experienced unfair treatment. It is the first Irish study of its kind and it would be worthwhile considering how mothers are treated in the workplace. On the day we are congratulating Senator Cullinane, we might also consider how fathers are treated in the workplace and whether paid paternity leave can be introduced.

Order of Business

23^rd June 2011

Senator Ivana Bacik: In response to Senator Keane, last night’s debate initiated by Senator Hayden and Labour Party Senators on the topic of distressed homeowners was an example of the Seanad at its best. Constructive alternatives were explored and the Opposition engaged constructively in a genuinely non-partisan debate on potential solutions to assist distressed homeowners in mortgage difficulties. It was an example of the Seanad adding value to the legislative process.

I support Senator Coghlan’s call for a debate on banking in light of a report that Allied Irish Banks has sold for €100,000 a stake in a Bulgarian bank which it bought for more than €200 million three and a half years ago. It is a matter of grave concern to taxpayers, the majority owners of AIB, that such an enormous loss is being sustained.

I also ask for a debate on the promotion of cycling. Dublin Bike to Work Day, which fell this week, is a highly successful initiative for which Dublin City Council is to be commended.

I express sympathy on the death of Kadar Asmal, who was the leading light of the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement for many years and was subsequently appointed Minister for Education in South Africa. Professor Asmal was also a colleague and good friend at Trinity College. All of us will express sympathy to his wife, Louise, and family.

Housing Market: Motion

22^nd June 2011

Senator Ivana Bacik:     I join colleagues in welcoming the Minister of State to the House. I thank him both for his commitment to the House and for his thoughtful and considered response to the issues raised in the motion. The Labour Party is delighted that he responded to the content of the motion and to the broader issues it raises of how we deal with the huge social and economic problem of mortgage holders in significant difficulty with repayments. We thank him for that.

I pay tribute to Senators Hayden and Moloney for raising this issue within the Labour Party and for bringing it before the House. We have had a strong debate on the motion in the best tradition of the Seanad. We framed this as a non-partisan motion aimed at trying to generate discussion on ideas and creative and constructive solutions to deal with this problem. It is deliberately reflective in tone and we are grateful to Opposition Members who indicated their support for the motion and who mostly addressed it in the non-partisan manner in which it was intended. Like Senator Gilroy, I am trying to refrain from partisan comments. We all accept that this is a matter of deep concern to everyone, whatever the genesis of the problem. We have a strong view on that but we are trying to suggest solutions in this debate.

The difficulty is the growing scale of the problem. As Senator Hayden said, repossession, which is generating so much distress for families and individuals, is the great fear and there is anxiety that there will be a large number of repossessions. That point is made in the programme for Government. As the Minister is well aware, under the section dealing with housing and distressed mortgages the recommendations of the Cooney report, which he has addressed in such detail, are inadequate to address the scale of the current crisis. That is the real difficulty and that is the reason we are putting forward more radical proposals for consideration by the Government. We thank the Minister for his response to the proposals we have raised.

Turning to those proposals, and again I pay tribute to Senator Hayden and Senator Moloney, in particular Senator Hayden’s years of experience with Threshold, the housing agency, there is an interest and a great deal of merit in exploring the Scottish scheme further. That is the scheme set up by the Scottish Government under its homeowners support fund which offers supports to householders with a view to ensuring families are kept in their own homes and ensures better use of public money rather than simply putting it into the rent supplement currently eating up so much of our public finances here. It is to try determine how we can keep families in their homes, take pressure off social housing lists and target funding in a more effective way and in a way that addresses the real needs of families. In that regard, the two schemes outlined in the motion and which were outlined in more detail by Senator Hayden have great merit.

The mortgage to shared equity scheme, where the Scottish Government takes a financial stake in a home but the applicant continues to own the home, live in it and have the responsibility of maintaining and insuring it but with a reduced amount due to their lender each month, has huge merit. The Minister pointed that the difficulty with adapting that scheme in the Irish context is that it generally depends on the owner having a loan not exceeding 75% of the value of the home. Where a large number of mortgages are in negative equity the scheme would have to be adapted. Changes would have to be made to ensure it would work here but, equally, there will be people here in difficulty with mortgages who have built up sufficient equity in their home to whom the mortgage to shared equity scheme could apply.

Deputy Brian Hayes:     Yes.

Senator Ivana Bacik:     As many Senators have stated, it is a question of trying to find a variety of different schemes that will address the different needs. Senator Crown put forward an idea, that again would only apply to certain distressed home owners, about the use of pension funds. Senator Hayden pointed out that many of those in difficulty and with negative equity may not have access to the type of resources in a pension fund that could be targeted in the way he has described. It is a question of trying to find a variety of different ways to support distressed home owners, and that is what we are seeking to do in this non-partisan motion.

We are conscious also that the programme for Government has made a number of proposals which as the Minister stated are being progressed by the Government. There are some initiatives suggested in the Cooney report that deserve greater consideration. In particular, the proposal for trading down has huge merit where householders are in significant negative equity.

As many people have stated, this is a matter of deep concern not just in terms of the economy and at a macro-level of the housing market but for individuals, householders and families. All of us are touched by this issue. It is one which will be of growing importance and an issue I am glad we have had the opportunity to address in this reflective manner in the Seanad. I thank the Minister again and I thank my colleagues in the Labour Party.

Order of Business

16^th June 2011

Senator Ivana Bacik:     All of us join Senator O’Brien in expressing sympathy in regard to that latest appalling shooting. Last night there was a debate in this House on the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009 with the Minister for Justice and Equality, and Members aired their concerns about the effectiveness of current legislative measures. The Minister helpfully indicated that he would conduct a review of the organised crime provisions in the Act, which I welcome as it is very important.

I refer to the announcement today that the Government plans to impose losses on senior bondholders in Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society, which we all very much welcome. Given that the anniversary of the first hundred days is being marked, we must note that this important issue needs to be addressed, as does that of interest rate cuts. I point out to Senator O’Brien that nothing has been finalised in that regard. It is a matter of great regret to all of us that more progress has not been made in achieving an interest rate cut but we hope negotiations are ongoing.

Today we will debate the Finance (No. 2) Bill which will bring about the jobs initiative and funding thereof, which is probably the most important achievement of the first 100 days.

I also welcome the announcement that the Government will respond today to the Council of Europe with an action plan on how it proposes to deal with the ABC case and its implications. As others did, I ask for a debate on this issue. It might be appropriate to have such a debate when the expert group, planned by the Government, has reported although I would be happy to have a debate before then to inform the work of the expert group. That debate may or may not happen but we will certainly need a debate when the expert group has reported. I very much hope that group will have a tight timeframe within which to prepare a report on the implications of the ABC case. For far too long this Legislature, the Oireachtas, has failed to grasp the nettle of the abortion issue and it is time we did so. The expert group is an important part of the strategy but we also need debates in the Seanad, preferably early ones, with others to follow when the expert group has reported.

Will the Leader arrange a debate on a case that has slipped somewhat under the radar? This case was taken by an Irish lawyer, Mr. Ciarán Toland, who on 7 June won a victory in the Court of the European Union, that is the general court, not the European Court of Human Rights. He sought access to a report known as the Galvin report, on the operation of the parliamentary assistants’ allowance in the European Parliament. This report was widely leaked on the Internet in 2009 but has been withheld by the Parliament. Mr. Toland achieved a victory, with the court stating that the Parliament could not objectively justify withholding the report. This is an important judgment that will have far-reaching consequences for improving accountability and transparency in the rights of EU citizens to access reports of European institutions. We might well consider the report in this House, especially given the debate we had yesterday on the usefulness of this House in dealing with EU matters. A final point of note is that a former Senator, Eugene Regan, represented Mr. Toland in the EU court.