Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have a difficulty because this is not a court. This is a conversation about a matter referred to by the Deputy that may, in fact, go in front of a court in terms of a dispute resolution process. I have every sympathy with every workplace issue, but without getting into the details of any individuals or any company. This is not a conversation I believe should be happening in this Chamber, particularly when there are potentially live matters at stake for a different statutory dispute resolution body and where reputational issues are involved as well. I will not, therefore, get into this issue. This is a Chamber for debating the dispute resolution and industrial relations mechanisms generally, but not at an individual level. This is not a court.

Ireland's system of industrial relations is well set out in statute law. It is important that the autonomy of employee and employer bodies and their respective members are respected in resolving their differences through the statutory system. The State provides the industrial relations disputes settlement mechanisms, including the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, to which the Deputy has referred, and the Labour Court, to support parties in their efforts to resolve their differences. The WRC and the Labour Court are independent, statutory bodies. They are independent of this House. It has been the consistent policy of successive Governments to develop an institutional framework supportive of that system and it is premised on the freedom of contract, the freedom of association and the articulation of rights through a statutory resolution process which is well set out in law and agreed by this House.

There is an extensive range of statutory provisions designed to back up that system. The Unfair Dismissal Acts 1977 to 2016 provide for a number of grounds under which a dismissal may be considered unfair, including membership or proposed membership of a trade union or engaging in trade union activities, whether within permitted times during work or outside of working hours.

Again, I do not want to get into specifics. In any situation, however, where parties can come together in an effort to resolve issues outside a court and a formal dispute resolution process, it is generally better for the parties involved. Where that cannot be achieved, though, there is the capacity to refer a complaint to the WRC under the Unfair Dismissal Acts 1977 to 2016 and complaints will, I hope, be fairly heard by an adjudicating officer. I do not believe this is the Chamber for discussing individual matters of this kind and, frankly, I am surprised by this.

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