Mr. Tom Hayes:

In practically every jurisdiction, they jump straight from a dispute into court. I know from discussions with the Commission that it is uneasy with that. Even though the Commission has a problem with Ireland at the moment, as Mr. Sheridan has mentioned, with the infringement proceedings, it quite likes the idea we are suggesting of mediation before judicial proceedings as offering a better route to resolving problems. Take France, for example. A dispute there between a works council and management could in the first instance go to a conseil de prud'hommes, meaning a committee of wise men, which is a sort of tribunal. If it is not resolved at that level it can then go into a superior court. To give a concrete example, some years back there was a proposed merger between Gaz de France and Suez, which was another big company. It was blocked for over four years because of disputes. In Germany, a dispute will go straight from discussions between the Betriebsrat, the works council, and management into a local labour court. That is more or less the common procedure in many European countries. As I said, the Commission would look favourably on an Irish model that could then act as a template elsewhere in Europe for the resolution of disputes through mediation and then a two-tier labour court involving a recommendation in the first place and then a binding decision.