Retail workers must be protected – Nelson Murray

Specific offences for assaulting or threatening retail workers will help protect staff in businesses across Ireland, a Fine Gael Senator has said.

Senator Linda Nelson Murray welcomed that the Fine Gael Party in the Seanad has agreed to pass the Protection of Retail Workers Bill from its second stage, which entitles an act to amend the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994 to create specific offences for assaulting or threatening retail workers carrying out their employment.

Senator Nelson Murray said “according to a recent survey by Retail Excellence Ireland 20% of retailers experience crime on a daily basis, however even more concerning is that 60% reported abuse of their staff.

“If you consider that over 300,000 people work in retail in Ireland, that is a lot of people who may feel unsafe in their place of work. These staff work hard and are often verbally or perhaps physically abused just for doing their job.

“As a business owner in the leisure sector I completely understand the pressure that small businesses can face, and we need to protect our employees.

“I have spoken to retailers across the constituency about their concerns and I had one shop owner tell me how his staff were abused almost on a weekly basis. I also heard of another incident at a shop in Navan where female staff who tried to remove three young men from a shop had a door smashed in on them.

“There is growing aggression and violence towards staff, with perpetrators showing little fear of the consequences of Gardaí. It is especially concerning in towns like Navan which has seen crime at a 20-year high and Trim which has a 6 year high in crime but has the lowest amount of Gardaí per capita.

“We need more accountability for offenders who regularly abuse staff or look at barring orders to prevent them from coming into town centres for a time.

“I welcome this bill and I’m sure retail staff will also welcome this bill, but we have to ensure that the term retail worker will also encompass hospitality, leisure industry workers, as well as all people in the service industry”, concluded Senator Nelson Murray.