Workers laid off by Debenhams have gathered outside the Convention Centre to protest as the  Dáil sits to elect a new taoiseach. 

In recent weeks, they had taken to blocking the removal of stock from former shops and picketing banks to try and secure a better redundancy package.

The workers say they've received nothing from their former employer following the liquidation of Debeham's 11 Irish shops earlier this year.

They relied on the state to pay the statutory minimum redundancy.

Valerie Conlon, the shop steward at Debenhams on Henry Street in Cork was one of a delegation of workers who have travelled to Dublin for the protest and sat in the public gallery.

"We feel now is the time for them to step up and do something," she said.

"They were using all along the [fact] that we had no government they couldn't do anything. Now is the time that they have to stop the massacre that is happening with all the jobs."

Michael McGrath, Fianna Fáil's spokesman on finance, spoke with some of the group as he arrived this morning.