Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Dowling suggests the delay in hearing cases does not reflect a fault in the current structures but rather is directly due to the failure to provide the Employment Appeals Tribunal with adequate resources. He also points to the increase in the number of hearings. I pay tribute to Ms Kate O'Mahony, the former chairperson. If civil servants were inclined to ignore me, they certainly were not going to ignore her. I can vouch that the tribunal is certainly not a gravy train. All members, both independent employers and union members, have given significant service for very little thanks during the years.

Mr. Dowling has raised a number of procedural points to which the Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton, has responded. He has dealt in detail with many of them. I wish to clarify that when we cut every other element of the Department's budget, the Employment Appeals Tribunal was given an increased number of staff. I wish to include Mr. Francis Rochford in my appreciation of the work of the tribunal.

The Minister has handled this matter very well. He has engaged with all relevant parties. Nobody wants to see what Mr. Dowling referred to as a "de-legalising" of elements of employment law. There is no doubt that the burden of regulations affects those in employment and also those who are out of employment in that employers are scared to employ people. We have to devise a user-friendly system for use by small employers who do not have a large human resources section. This is the challenge when designing a system. I will not speak for the Minister, but our intent was not to de-legalise but rather to look at the administrative burden imposed by employment law - the entire body of law for this sector - to identify the factors standing in the way of business and the provision of employment, which is everyone's business at this time. It was a tripartite effort, but it is not happening as fast as I would like. However, there was never a question of taking away rights or de-legalising the system.

The Minister has provided a detailed response on the point of having a single hearing, which is the practice in many inequality complaints cases. The Minister and his officials have done a very solid job in tackling what has been a problem for the past ten to 15 years. I also acknowledge the work of the delegates and the service they have given to the Employment Appeals Tribunal. I agree entirely with Mr. Dowling's proposition that in the talk about quangos and gravy trains the tribunal was never considered to be such a body.