Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I was saying that it is a State-funded, contracted organisation. A case was taken against it at the WRC. The person won the case. The organisation did not have the money to pay, because it was not in its budget. That was the basis of the question. It is a simple workers' rights matter. It is probably not on the radar of the Minister of State or Minister, so we wanted to raise it. The overall objective of the WRC is to deliver a world class workplace relations service and employment rights framework for employees and employers.

Situations have arisen where the WRC has been totally disrespected. This has happened where workers have taken a case against an employer that is wholly funded by the State and the situation unfolds is that the workers involved take a case to the WRC, win it and receive an award of monetary compensation. They then seek that compensation from the State-funded employer. However, the company does not have the money to pay it because of how it is funded. As I said, there is a failure here to respect the work and remit of the WRC. It is unfair and disrespectful to the worker who was wronged and won the case. In most cases, the employer wants to pay the compensation but simply cannot afford to do so. In other cases, employers never learn because they do not feel the financial implications of their wrongdoing.

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