Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

One might, so I agree to revert to the Deputy on that in advance of Report Stage because I think that would be useful to do so. The Deputy rightly outlined that in 2019, the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2019 gave members of An Garda Síochána full access, for the first time, to the State's industrial relations mechanism, including the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, and the Labour Court. It was an important step forward that allows Garda representative associations to represent their members in national pay talks and puts them on a par with trade unions in this regard. However the Deputy is also correct that at that time, certain aspects of the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2019 were not applied to the Garda associations, including protections which apply to registered trade unions that engage in legitimate trade union action. The concerns outlined in the Deputy's amendments were examined during the Oireachtas debates on the 2019 Act and the landing zone was that the unique role Garda members have relating to the protection of the security of the State was acknowledged. It was recognised that they are not simply workers in the everyday sense of the word and that they have unique powers regarding protecting the peace and our security and so it would not be appropriate to provide all the protections contained in the industrial relations Act. In any event, I consider that any revisiting of these issues would be perhaps broader than the scope of this Bill.

The second amendment is somewhat related. It is an amendment to Schedule 1 to the Bill and relates to the proposed repeal of the certain Acts and parts of Acts concerning industrial relations legislation as it applies to members of An Garda Síochána. The issues involved are similar to those dealt with in amendment No. 63. The effect of the proposed amendment would be to remove certain restrictions on the operation of industrial relations legislation as it applies to members of An Garda Síochána and again, for the same reasons I am not in a position to support that amendment now but I will get a detailed updated position regarding the European Social Charter ruling for Deputy McNamara, which I would be happy to consider myself also.