Legislation to avoid a repeat of what happened in the Irish Ferries' redundancy deal will be passed before the general election, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin told the Dáil.
"We have consulted the social partners on it, and we will now move ahead. We want to close off any other potential opportunities; we do not want to see this replicated on land in Ireland."
The Minister was replying to Catherine Murphy (Independent, Kildare North) who said most people would understand that the job was made redundant, not the worker, "so it is hard to get one's head around the fact the workers were replaced in exactly the same jobs".
Labour leader Pat Rabbitte said the company had sacked its workforce, replacing it with cheaper labour.
Martin Brady (FF, Dublin North East) asked the Minister why Irish Ferries had received a €4.3 million rebate and why the staff were deemed to be made redundant.
Mr Martin said 447 employees were made redundant, and Irish Ferries had applied for a rebate under the statutory redundancy scheme.
"There is no room for the exercise of ministerial preference or the consideration of matters extraneous to the redundancy legislation," he said.
Arthur Morgan (SF, Louth) asked if Mr Martin was satisfied that every legitimate obstacle was put in the way of the deal made by Irish Ferries, "when it ripped off taxpayers and hoodwinked its workers".
Mr Martin said "it was the best we could do in the context of the law that applies".
