Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy's proposal that the Labour Court be empowered in the case of a matter which has come before it on appeal from a decision of an adjudication officer to refer that matter back to another adjudication officer to be determined again at the first instance does not appear to take into consideration that on appeal, the Labour Court hears the entire case de novo. In the arrangement outlined in the Workplace Relations Bill 2014, both parties to a complaint have a right to have the matter heard fully on two occasions - at first instance and on appeal. This arrangement fully meets the requirements of fairness and justice. To provide an additional remedy to the Labour Court other than upholding or denying the appeal as proposed would be akin to giving the Labour Court a concurrent jurisdiction akin to judicial review - a jurisdiction that is exclusive to the High Court and the Court of Appeal on appeal therefrom.

Far from expediting proceedings, the amendment, if adopted, would serve to delay them as it would be necessary to have a minimum of three hearings and in most cases, four in place of two. Therefore, I will not accept this amendment. The strong point is that the Labour Court retries the entire case. It is not like a court that looks at the way the judge handles the matter, examines whether there was a technical breach and sends it back. It just looks at the entire merit of the case and makes a fresh decision on the entire merit. That is the approach we are adopting.

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