Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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10. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the Department that has the lead remit for the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC; and her views on the fact that employment policy and enforcement are now divided between two departments. [43165/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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In moving the employment rights and minimum wage agenda to the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, we are effectively aligning employee-based rights with the welfare to work agenda and focusing on ensuring that our policies encourage people into the workforce with fair terms and conditions. That Department has responsibility for Intreo, the national contact point for employment and income supports that also acts as a pathway to employment for many jobseekers.

My Department retains key functions and policies central to employment, including economic migration, industrial relations, health and safety in the workplace and the range of Government services available to workers and employers, such as those offered by the WRC and Labour Court.

There is no conflict in the fact that a function of my Department, through the WRC, is to enforce employment legislation when policy responsibility for employment rights resides with another Department. As the Deputy knows, the WRC is an independent statutory body that acts in a stand-alone manner in respect of workplace relations issues.

I am satisfied the separation of the function of policy responsibility for employment law from the function of enforcing that law will not impact in any way on the ability of employees to enjoy the full protection afforded by employment law. We will work closely with the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection to ensure that policy and enforcement functions operate in a manner that meets all of the expectations of employers and employees.

Following changes in departmental functions, certain responsibilities formerly within the remit of my Department have transferred to the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. A schedule sets out the functions that have transferred to the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection.

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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I will try to sum up this situation. The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection has responsibility for regulating some of our employment legislation, for example, employment rights regulations, the Low Pay Commission and the minimum wage. The Tánaiste's Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation has lead responsibility for employment legislation, workplace health and safety, equality, the WRC, the Labour Court and the Employment Appeals Tribunal. As such, two Departments are now crossing over labour policy, labour law and labour affairs.

It makes the situation a little bit more complex when there are two Government Departments dealing with the area. I have been asked to ask the Minister if any practitioners, groups or representatives in the area of employment, trade unions or workers' rights were consulted on the decision to split the area of labour affairs between two Departments.

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The areas that transferred from my Department to the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection included the Low Pay Commission and the national minimum wage as well as lead responsibilities for EU policies around employment, social policy and engagement with the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. If one thinks about employment policy, it covers a very broad range of areas across Government including taxation, innovation, education, skills needs, economic migration and enterprise supports. By moving the particular sections we moved, we are aligning employee based rights with the welfare to work agenda. It is a reasonable action to have taken and is very much in line with how other European countries deal with these issues. In the European Commission, these issues would be dealt with by the committee that deals with social protection as opposed to employment law. It is very much in line with what the stakeholders the Deputy speaks about would be used to at European level. There is very close engagement between the two Departments.

Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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Is the Deputy happy with that?

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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Yes.