Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On 25 April, the European Court of Justice issued a ruling which contained a number of clarifications regarding the transposition of EU Directive 2008/94/EC which concerns the protection of employees in the event of the insolvency of their employer. This ruling was in response to a July 2011 referral from the High Court regarding proceedings brought by former workers at Waterford Crystal.

In taking the view that interpretation of the provisions of the Directive 2008/94 was necessary for it to give its decision in this case, the High Court had decided to stay the proceedings and to refer a number of questions to the European Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling.

Following that European Court of Justice ruling, the matter will now revert to the High Court for consideration. Given this matter remains before the courts, it would not be appropriate for the Government to comment further on any specific aspects of the case at this point in time.

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