Ms Tara Coogan:

I am appearing before the committee to discuss the Workplace Relations (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2021. As the Chairman noted, the urgency in respect of this Bill arises from a recent Supreme Court decision which , on the one hand, saved the WRC's adjudication service but, on the other, found certain provisions within the statutory framework giving the WRC its powers to be constitutionally repugnant.

In essence, what this Bill proposes to do is address those immediate matters identified by the Supreme Court. Currently, all matters before the adjudication service in the WRC would be held entirely in private. That has now been found by the courts to be inconsistent with what is known as administration of justice. While the Supreme Court is not saying that everything and anything must be done in public, some consideration must be given to those matters and we will address that issue in this short Bill. The second issue, which means that adjudication cannot continue and cannot be effectively concluded until this provision has been introduced in law, is that the Supreme Court was very critical of the fact that there was no provision in the statutory framework for the adjudication service which provides for the administration of an oath or affirmation and an associated penalty for a person who may wilfully give false evidence or mislead an adjudication officer.

Those are the two matters that the Bill will immediately address. Due to the nature of the WRC and the various items of legislation under which it is responsible for carrying out investigations, these amendments will also need to be carried to be carried to the Employment Equality Act and the Equal Status Act. My Department has been co-operating with the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. While these amendments relate to procedural matters within the WRC and, as such, do not really relate to the policies under these particular Acts, it has been proposed that these matters would be addressed in this very short Bill in an effective way so that we can get over the difficulty that means that adjudications cannot be concluded and address the immediate concerns the Supreme Court orders identified. Unfortunately, those orders had immediate effect so we were not given any grace period by the Supreme Court.

There are other small procedural matters that we propose to amend. They relate to the independence of Labour Court members. While it has never really been an issue, industrial relations legislation is missing that express statement so we are proposing to carry those amendments as well.

This is an immediate and urgent measure that we are proposing to take so that we can continue to provide the service to the people of Ireland in the WRC. However, it is clear that once we have overcome this obstacle, we will have to examine the lengthy judgments of the Supreme Court, consider policy matters in more detail and engage with the committee in the more normal legislative process. I am here to take any questions members may have and appreciate the committee giving me this time. I am here because this is genuinely an urgent matter.