Marie Sherlock (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted we are having the hearing today and I thank SIPTU, particularly Mr. McCormack and Mr. Sheridan, for appearing before us today. I also thank Mr. Hayes and Ms McKeon for their attendance. In some ways we could probably have a number of sessions talking about the myriad issues relating to European works councils, which are probably very poorly understood even in the general workforce, let alone in the population. Brexit is a particular issue.

I have a number of questions on the effectiveness of the legislation and, in particular, the approach of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Notwithstanding the deficiencies in the legislation, we have heard a number of highly concerning accounts today regarding the efforts by Mr. Sheridan - to whom great credit is due, together with SIPTU, for pursuing Kingspan - and I know other companies are in the mix. Mr. Sheridan has outlined a failure by the Department to engage. I think I heard Mr. Hayes mention earlier that he knows of at least one company that wrote to the Department last year and there may be others as well. We need to understand the approach of the Department and get insight into that. Will Mr. Hayes give us some insight on the delays in the Department responding when complaints have been made? It is an important feature.