Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this Bill as a key component of the Minister's programme of reform of the State's employment rights and industrial relations machinery. The Bill represents the culmination of several years of work in terms of drafting proposals, holding public consultations and bringing the draft Bill before the Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, of which I am a member.

A worker involved in a dispute or with a complaint is faced with a confusing array of organisations, with the nature of the complaint determining which organisation has jurisdiction. There is a lack of clarity at times in this regard, which is a problem given the stress and vulnerability often felt by workers in these circumstances. The current system exacerbates the problem by prolonging the process and wasting resources. There are five organisations with overlapping but separate objectives and operations involved. This leads to workplace claims being pursued through the wrong channels or arguments being put forward on the wrong legislative basis.

The best approach to resolving workplace disputes is one which does so quickly, fairly and transparently. This Bill will serve to avoid the errors currently being experienced by all involved. This will be achieved by replacing the five State bodies with two, namely, the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, and an expanded and enhanced Labour Court. The commission will deal with all cases in the first instance while the Labour Court will deal with all appeals. A further welcome reform is the replacement of the different positions in the existing organisations with a single point of leadership in the person of the director general of the WRC. The new commission will be staffed by officials of the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, which will eliminate duplication.

Colleagues and I, as well as stakeholders, have raised concerns with the Minister regarding the potential levying of fees on persons wishing to access the new workplace relations services. I was encouraged by the Minister's response to my most recent parliamentary question in which he indicated that he does not propose to introduce charges on parties for access to the WRC services. He is taking this approach for several reasons, he said, but largely on account of the fact a key priority in this reform programme is to improve access to the State's workplace relations services. The intention is to ensure the reforms being introduced provide for an improved service in terms of cost-efficiency and user-friendliness. That is welcome.

This Bill could form a template for what needs to happen elsewhere. I recently submitted parliamentary questions to each Department to ascertain the number of State agencies, bodies, working groups and committees under their remit. I have received replies thus far from 12 Departments, with three others being collated. The details provided vary, but the common theme is that there is a plethora of agencies and statutory bodies. I understand the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is pursuing a reform programme and substantial work is being done by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and others in dissolving and amalgamating some of these entities. Work remains to be done in this area. There are 40 State bodies, working groups and service providers within the Department of Justice and Equality, 22 under the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, 18 each under the Department of Health and the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, 17 under the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, 13 under the Department of Finance, and 16 under the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

I am not seeking to denigrate the work done by many of these organisations, but I would be failing as a public representative and Member of the Oireachtas if I did not voice my concerns regarding the sheer volume of these organisations. Collectively, they are allocated millions of euro of public money every year. The people deserve the highest quality of public service delivered at the best value possible. Without naming any entity, the attitude of some State agencies when contacted by public representatives is not good enough and is deplorable in certain circumstances, with responses ranging from clear irritation at being questioned to the provision of incomplete or less than accurate information. In some cases, Members are simply ignored, without even an acknowledgment of their query.

The signs for the economy are encouraging, with jobs being created and unemployment falling. Such positivity is not an excuse to cease examining and scrutinising expenditure of public moneys down to the last cent. This Bill is most welcome in that context. I welcome it, too, because it will improve the enforcement of employment rights and access to non-court-based resolution processes, and because fees will not be levied on people who are experiencing problems in the workplace which have knock-on effects on their personal lives. It is welcome because it represents what we campaigned for and pledged to do, namely, to ensure we have public services which work more efficiently and effectively for the public.

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