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The current President of the Labor Court, Kevin Foley, agreed to mediate the dispute involving Debenhams and his employees.
This was confirmed tonight by Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Leo Varadkar.
The Government “calls on all parties to do everything possible to resolve this ongoing dispute.”
Earlier, Minister of State Damien English said there was no evidence to suggest that the implementation of the 2016 Duffy-Cahill think tank report on the closure of Clerys would have helped 1,000 former Debenhams Ireland workers who lost their jobs last April. .
Pro-worker activists argue that if the Duffy-Cahill recommendations had been implemented, they could have strengthened the right of Debenhams employees to guarantee enhanced dismissal rights provided in a collective bargaining agreement prior to the company’s collapse.
The Minister of State for the Department of Business Trade and Employment, Damien English, addressed the issue in an Oireachtas committee today.
He told the Enterprise Trade and Employment Committee that the Duffy-Cahill report had a narrow focus, based on a situation where assets were separated.
It noted that the authors, lead attorney Neasa Cahill and former President of the Labor Court Kevin Duffy, had not established a link with Debenhams.
The minister said he had seen no evidence to support the claim that implementing the report would solve the difficulties currently facing former Debenhams employees.
“In relation to the Debenhams resolution, the state can only get involved under the law so far in this situation, it is a private matter, with a private company,” said English.
“My heart goes out to all these workers and I have made a commitment and met with them. And it is important that the State assume its responsibilities, and it has done so,” said the minister.
He confirmed that his Department has established a process to review the situation that he hopes will conclude next month.
Among the topics examined are employee access to information about the financial situation of the company, their rights as creditors, asset transfers, consultation periods and the treatment of collective agreements in the event of insolvency.
The Department is also evaluating the establishment of an independent fund to handle ex-gratia layoff payments, but the Minister pointed to issues that need to be resolved, including who would pay or could claim it.
However, Mr. English cautioned that there are no quick or easy solutions.
He highlighted different types of layoffs in different corporate contexts: “Some layoffs are to ensure the survival of the company, while others, unfortunately, occur in the context of the company closing its doors forever.”
He also told the committee that the Department’s legal advice was that it would not be possible to ensure that any new legislation was retrospective to help Debenhams workers.
RISE TD Paul Murphy and Sinn Féin spokesperson on Business, Trade and Employment, Louise O’Reilly, accused the Minister and the Government of showing a complete lack of urgency in implementing the Duffy-Cahill recommendations.
Debenhams Ireland went into liquidation in March and, since then, workers belonging to the Mandate union have been picketing its 11 stores, preventing KPMG liquidators from withdrawing shares to advance insolvency.
They argue that stock earnings should be hedged to fund improved layoff periods of four weeks per year of service envisaged in a 2016 collective bargaining agreement, rather than the legal minimum of two weeks capped at 600 euros per week.
However, the liquidators, Andrew O’Leary and Kieran Wallace of KPMG, insist that workers are only legally entitled to legal termination and that preferred creditors such as Commissioners of Revenue have priority over the liquidation proceeds.
They have also warned that the liquidation will run out of money before Christmas due to the inability to remove stock from stores, adding that this could leave all creditors with little or nothing.
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