Politicians praise workers and criticise gardaí

THE release of protesting Thomas Cook workers from incarceration was greeted with relief last night.

Labour and Sinn Féin stated that any other decision would have been profoundly unjust.

Labour’s Joanna Tuffy commended the workers on their “brave stand” while Sinn Féin strongly condemned the actions of the courts and gardaí.

“The prospect of the workers remaining behind bars would have been a profoundly unjust result, and I very much welcome the fact that they will not have to spend any more time in prison. This has been a very stressful time for the workers and their families who took a very brave stand in this matter. It is important that when there is an industrial dispute, that workers are given every opportunity to engage in a process of negotiation,” Ms Tuffy said.

Sinn Féin TD Aengus O Snodaigh attacked the “distorted priorities” of the Irish judiciary and the Garda Síochána. “Where was the judiciary when the Irish banks were shamelessly engaged in reckless lending practices, when loans were hidden, when creative accountancy hid the real state of the Irish financial sector from the taxpayer who is set to pick up the tab?

“When more than 150 officers from Pearse Street Garda Station broke down the door of the Thomas Cook premises on Grafton Street after 5am, the failings of the Irish justice system could not have been any more obvious. What crime did they commit? What injustice did these ordinary people bring upon the Irish state? Did they engage in reckless lending practices, using bank deposits to play in a global banking casino? No, these ordinary workers were standing up for their rights; their right to a decent redundancy package of 8 weeks per each year of service.

“The distorted priorities of the Irish judiciary and the Garda Síochána speak volumes for how this country has gotten into such deep recession; punish the ordinary worker to please the profiteers. Actions speak louder than words and the sight of a pregnant worker being led to a Garda van, after having tried to secure a sufficient remuneration for herself gives us an indication of the actions that ail our country,” he said.

Neither Fine Gael nor the Government wanted to comment on the court case.