Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The standard period in most of the existing employment enactments within which a complaint can be referred to one of the workforce relations bodies is six months, which can be extended to 12 months where either reasonable cause or exceptional circumstances are demonstrated, depending on the individual enactment. The Workplace Relations Bill seeks to standardise these time periods across the broad spectrum of employment legislation, that is, six months for referral of a complaint which can be extended to 12 months where exceptional circumstances are demonstrated. I consider that a period of two years within which to refer a complaint to the WRC would be unnecessarily long and unreasonable. Such a proposal would also be inconsistent with employment legislation in other EU member states. Therefore I am not going to accept these amendments.