Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The petition points to the role that the committee can play, in that we do not necessarily deal with a person's individual gripe with a system. Rather, if someone's difficulties highlight a problem with the system, we can make recommendations.

I agree with the previous speakers. If appropriate, it might be useful to invite someone from the Employment Appeals Tribunal to attend our hearing so that we might discuss the matter with him or her. From my reading of the petition, the person states that the onus appears to be on the employee, the expense is laid on him or her and, even if he or she wins a case, the employer is not compelled to live up to the agreement reached at the tribunal. It would be interesting to know whether the Employment Appeals Tribunal views this as a systemic problem. Given the fact that the Bill's heads have not been agreed, this is the ideal time to feed into the debate. If it is acknowledged generally that an issue exists, it can be addressed in the new legislation.