Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On the last day we discussed this amendment, which had been moved by myself and a number of other Members on Committee Stage, our intention was to ensure the burden of proof was shifted firmly to the employer. The Minister said she had received advice from the Labour Court and the WRC to the effect that what we were proposing could cause problems, meaning somebody with a perfectly meritorious case might not succeed, which would be the exact opposite of what we are trying to achieve. In the meantime, I have had a look at this again and have taken legal advice on the matter. The advice I have got is that there could be problems which would prevent a person with a perfectly valid case from succeeding on a technicality.

The second problem with our amendment was that it could create a different onus of proof, depending on the type of complaint made, with the burden being shifted in one type of complaint but not in another. I am advised that the best way to deal with this is to put the new section we proposed in our amendment into section 7 of the 1994 Act, and replace the word "section" in that amendment with the word "Act". The rules of the House do not permit me to do that tonight but I will suggest an amendment along those lines to our Seanad spokesperson when the matter goes to the Seanad. In the meantime, I do not propose to oppose the Government's amendment.

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