We all know money makes the world go around. However, we should ask ourselves what makes money. What makes money is work and the productivity of people who carry out that work. The Debenhams workers will be 300 days out of their jobs next week. After an arduous 300 days, they are left with no compensation according to the collective agreement.

Will the Taoiseach commit to translating the €3 million that was recommended to bring them back to school, to send them back to education, into actual cash so that these workers and their families can have some peace of mind and some justice from the 300 arduous days of struggle they have carried on? Will he give them some sense that they are being regarded seriously by the Taoiseach and his Government?

The Deputy is well aware that the Government has honoured its statutory redundancy commitments to workers in Debenhams. The Government is the only party which has honoured its commitments in respect of the workers concerned. The Deputy is correct about the deficiencies in whatever collective agreement had been previously entered into at the time.

We have gone through this with the representative bodies and the trade unions every way we can and we have pursued every avenue. That €3 million is not statutory redundancy. It is a measure to provide some recognition to the workers of the challenges they face as a result of being made redundant. We have a broad statutory redundancy scheme that applies to all workers who become redundant as a result of company liquidations. We have been clear and consistent from the outset as to what we could do within the legal framework available to us.