Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I understand that SIPTU contends that this breaches existing contracts of employment. The matter was referred to the Labour Court which made a recommendation last February. The court considered the written and oral submissions by the parties and noted the terms of the company-union industrial relations procedure agreement and said that it was in the opinion of FÁS that it was in breach of the consultation procedures provided for in that agreement. It made no ruling on the substantive issue of the relocation clause. Instead it recommended that the matter be referred back to the appropriate central body, at which level the issue should be teased out with a view to arriving at an agreed long-term solution in consultation with the parties involved.

Discussions have been held on three occasions under the Labour Relations Commission to see if progress can be made. The last of these meetings concluded this morning. The differences remain between the parties and are being addressed through ongoing dialogue. It would not be helpful at this point for me to get into the details of the elements of the negotiations between FÁS management and trade unions. Naturally I support using the established consultation and dialogue mechanisms and I hope these discussions lead to a resolution.

On the general points on the other issues, as I have said previously, all these issues must be done through negotiation. Decentralisation is a voluntary programme and it must be done by negotiation. That is the best way of it working through. Some of these programmes have been well advanced. Other ones are a considerable distance behind because there are industrial relations difficulties. As they are different in each case, it is not possible to give a generalised view. Some people have made progress and are moving quickly. With others the uptake is very low and there is very little action.

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