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Dáil
‹ An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business

Iceland workers unpaid wages

Summary

Deputy Murphy raised workers occupying the Iceland store over unpaid wages and holiday pay, saying the company may be engaging in tactical insolvency. The Taoiseach agreed workers should be paid and said existing routes include the Social Insurance Fund and the Workplace Relations Commission.

Earlier today, People Before Profit Deputies visited workers at the Iceland store on Talbot Street. These workers started occupying the store yesterday. They have been there through the night and staying away from their families. Why? Because, bluntly, they have been robbed by their employer. The workers are owed a collective tens of thousands of euro in unpaid wages and holiday pay. They are right to take a stand, to occupy and to demand that they are paid what they are owed. This situation has all the hallmarks of a tactical insolvency with echoes of the Debenhams situation. The company has gone into examinership on the basis of €36 million in debt, of which €34 million is owed to the parent company. It seems like an attempt to avoid paying workers what they are owed. Does the Taoiseach agree that the workers should be paid what they are owed?

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Leo Varadkar The Taoiseach Fine Gael

I absolutely agree that workers should be paid what they are owed. There are mechanisms to do that both through the Social Insurance Fund and through the Workplace Relations Commission.

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