Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 87:

In page 252, after line 14, to insert the following:

"

6.

No. 19 of 1990

Industrial Relations Act 1990

Section 23(1D) and the Sixth Schedule.

This amendment was discussed on Committee Stage. As I alluded to earlier, I was previously a Member of this House from 2011 to 2016. During that time, the European Committee of Social Rights considered a complaint from the European Confederation of Police, EuroCOP, to which the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, AGSI, is affiliated. It was held that the prohibition on the right to strike of members of An Garda Síochána in Ireland was unlawful and contrary to the European Social Charter. A Bill was brought before the House on Second Stage at that time which was unsuccessful. There was some discussion of the situation thereafter in the last Dáil and the situation was amended somewhat so that gardaí would have a right or some right - this was kind of an Irish solution to an Irish problem - to engage in collective bargaining. Nevertheless, the legal prohibition on the right to strike remained.

There are two places where this is contained. One, which I had proposed to remove in the context of section 25, is the proscription on the right of a person to withhold his or her services, in the context where gardaí will be proscribed from doing so by this proposed law, if it passes and is not amended in the Seanad. The second thing concerns the consequences because people can be sued for the consequences of a strike but for the Industrial Relations Act 1990. The proposed section which I have included in this amendment specifically removes members of An Garda Síochána from this provision.

I do not think anybody thinks members of An Garda Síochána are going to strike willy-nilly or, arguably, going to strike at all. John Horgan, who is a former chair of the Labour Court - he is a constituent of mine, but that is very much a secondary matter - and a man with a very distinguished career in industrial relations in the private and public sectors, was commissioned to write a report on this matter. My understanding is that he recommended that this issue be negotiated in such a way as would allow gardaí to give up the right to strike, as police officers do in many other countries, in return for certain terms and conditions. This would be their wont or right to do so. At the moment, though, they do not have this bargaining power. Ultimately, the right to strike is the basis upon which people negotiate collectively, because while it is all well and good to admit people into collective bargaining processes, what are they going to be bargaining with if they have to provide their labour? They will not be bargaining with very much at the end of the day. It will be a very one-sided discussion.

I raised this issue with the Minister's very able substitute, the Minister, Deputy Harris, in respect of this unlawfulness. I pointed out at the time that it would be a sort of a sad irony if legislation entitled the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023 was in itself to be contrary to international law and our international legal commitments. The decision of the European Committee of Social Rights stands. It may not be binding as a matter of domestic law, but neither is the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ICCPR, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or any of these matters. These are, however, laws and they are binding on the State, but people cannot get onto the Four Courts and sue on the back of them. This does not mean, however, that they are not laws and can, therefore, be flagrantly disregarded, most of all by a Minister for Justice. I say this because ours is a State which takes the rule of law seriously, takes international law seriously and regularly criticises other countries, and rightly so, for breaches in this regard. It is usually, I suppose, of course, the Department of Foreign Affairs rather than the Department of Justice making the criticisms, but this is the law because those who have been appointed to determine the lawfulness or otherwise of this measure have made their determination that Ireland has been found to be in breach of its legal commitments this regard. These are legal commitments which were freely entered into.

I explained the situation to the Minister, Deputy Harris, when he held this portfolio, and he said it would be extraordinary if a Bill being brought forward by the Department of Justice was contrary to law. He expected that we would go into this matter in further detail. I look forward to hearing this detail now and to hearing what we are going to do to bring Ireland into compliance with its international legal commitments, as we introduce a Bill to ensure An Garda Síochána complies with its constitutional and domestic legal duties. The least we can expect is that the State will also comply with its legal duties towards those members of An Garda Síochána who are unlawfully deprived of the right to strike as it stands at the moment.

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