Mr. Liam Berney:

The simple obstruction is the High Court struck down the functioning of JLCs. Remedial legislation was initiated to ensure JLCs operated on a constitutional basis. As part of the reform of the legislation, the Government offered a veto to employers to ensure that if they did not want to participate, they could not be compelled to do so. There can be as many JLCs as we like but employers cannot be compelled to participate in them.

There is a directive from the European Union coming down the tracks that will require the State to ensure there is 70% collective bargaining coverage in the country. We must start working to improve collective bargaining coverage now in order for us to be ready to transpose that directive into Irish law.