Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am coming to that. The waiting time for legacy cases to be heard is down from 128 weeks at the beginning of 2015 to 53 weeks now. The Labour Court received 566 cases, an increase of 66% on the same period, and waiting times have reduced from ten to six weeks, which is welcome.

I will give a comprehensive reply on the closure of Clerys because what happened there was an absolute disgrace. I met some of the workers in the House and the way they were treated was an absolute disgrace. A number of actions were initiated as part of the Government's response to the closure. These included the Duffy Cahill expert examination of legal protection for workers and their report provides a comprehensive analysis of the relevant provisions of employment and company law. It makes a number of proposals for legislative reform, which are primarily concerned with amendments to employment law. My Department conducted a public consultation on the report following its publication on 26 April. The submissions received in response to the consultation are important in assessing how suggested reforms could operate in practice and in identifying unintended consequences. They will inform the response to the report, which will be brought forward for consideration by Government. Legislative amendments will be considered by Government in this context.

The Company Law Review Group was asked to review company law with a view to recommending ways it could be amended to ensure better safeguards for employees and unsecured creditors. The group's work is progressing in this regard. Separately, authorised officers from the WRC have sought information from a number of parties regarding the collective redundancies that took place in OCS Operations Limited on 12 June 2015. Their work relates to the application of the protection of the Employment Act 1977 to the redundancies in question. Prosecutions, if appropriate, remain an option under that legislation. One of the parties from whom the authorised officers sought information initiated proceedings in the High Court challenging their powers. The hearing of submissions in that case concluded in July and judgment was reserved to a future unspecified date. As the matter remains before the courts, it would not be appropriate to comment further.