Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

The Minister of State seems to be developing a hybrid involving a mixture of internal guidelines for the regulation of disciplinary procedures within the public service along with the application of the Unfair Dismissals Act. To be consistent in that line, I would expect that the Minister of State would also introduce some new options for public servants to resort to the Industrial Relations Act or some of the other general labour Acts that protect employees. Why has the Minister of State decided to extend provisions on unfair dismissals, which is standard labour market practice but not extend to public sector workers other legislative protections, which are generally available to private sector workers? We will end up with a hybrid version with some reliance on internal procedures set out in guidelines and some reliance on the statutory code. My amendment would at least provide for statutory protection for the guidelines now in place. I ask the Minister of State to elaborate on the route he appears to be taking in this regard.

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