Results 13,681-13,700 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Other Questions: Job Losses (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: The company has committed clearly, both to me and the workforce, to making this investment. That is the context in which the negotiations are under way. The negotiations were delayed to some degree, for reasons the Deputy will know, but they have now started. We stand ready, through the Labour Relations Commission, to assist on the technical side. The Labour Relations Commission has a...

Other Questions: Workplace Relations Services (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: The Deputy will be aware that, as part of the current reform of workplace relations services, the functions of the Employment Appeals Tribunal will be transferred to the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, and the Labour Court in so far as first instance complaints and appeals, respectively, are concerned, with first instance complaints being referred to the WRC and appeals to the Labour...

Other Questions: Workplace Relations Services (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: A huge amount of change has taken place and it is a credit to the people working in this area. We are merging five bodies into two and there has been huge support from those involved in simplifying the process. Some 30 forms have been reduced down to one and an online application procedure has been developed. A pilot early resolution procedure is available so that cases which can be...

Other Questions: Workplace Relations Services (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: We have not deflected any staff from the hearings or the progression of cases. We have simplified the whole procedure. There were situations where the same case was being run in parallel in two different hearing routes. The same substantive case was being heard in two different arena. We are streamlining the process, for example, by reducing 30 forms down to one. This change has been...

Workplace Relations Bill 2014: From the Seanad (Resumed) (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: The Chief Parliamentary Counsel has advised that there is a difficulty with the constitutionality of the provisions. As drafted, the legislation allows the prosecution to prove all the ingredients of the offence by way of statements in a document. The prosecution would not be required to call witnesses and, consequently, the defence would have no opportunity to cross-examine, which is a...

Workplace Relations Bill 2014: From the Seanad (Resumed) (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: This is a necessary deterrent to respondents in employment rights proceedings who fail to pay awards of compensation as directed. The amendment provides that it will be an offence for a party so directed to pay compensation to a complainant but who fails to do so, except in circumstances where that respondent can demonstrate to the court that his or her failure to pay the compensation was...

Workplace Relations Bill 2014: From the Seanad (Resumed) (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: These amendments are intended to allow the Minister to make a temporary appointment to the office of deputy chairman of the Labour Court to fulfil a temporary vacancy that may arise in circumstances in that office. Such a vacancy may occur, for example, where an incumbent deputy chairperson is unable to perform his or her duties for a period, or dies or is removed from office. This is a...

Workplace Relations Bill 2014: From the Seanad (Resumed) (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: Amendment No. 109 amends the Unfair Dismissals Act. These amendments are largely technical and drafting in nature. The amendments are necessary to ensure that the complaints and redress procedures which will apply to complaints brought under the Unfair Dismissals Act are as analogous as possible with the complaints and redress scheme provided for in Part 4 of the Bill.

Workplace Relations Bill 2014: From the Seanad (Resumed) (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: These amendments are purely drafting and technical in nature and do not result in any substantive change in the Bill.

Workplace Relations Bill 2014: From the Seanad (Resumed) (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: These amendments are of a technical and drafting nature and further refine the changes that have to be made to the Employment Equality Act 1998 in light of the establishment of the Workplace Relations Commission and the transfer of functions of the director of the Equality Tribunal to the director general of the commission.

Workplace Relations Bill 2014: From the Seanad (Resumed) (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: Section 87 makes provision for an amendment to the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 to bring it into line with rulings of the Court of Justice of the EU in the Schultz-Hof line of cases regarding how time spent on sick leave should be treated for the purposes of the accrual of annual leave. It will allow workers who are on long-term sick leave to accrue and retain annual leave for up to...

Workplace Relations Bill 2014: From the Seanad (Resumed) (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: Again, these are technical and drafting in nature. They clarify further the list of enactments, parts of enactments and statutory instruments that are included in the definition of employment enactments for the purpose of this Bill.

Workplace Relations Bill 2014: From the Seanad (Resumed) (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: These are amendments to schedule 4 to re-order the list of Acts referred to in the schedule in chronological order for ease of use and make minor corrections to the sections of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1977 and the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977, non-compliance with which may be a subject of a compliance notice issued by an inspector.

Workplace Relations Bill 2014: From the Seanad (Resumed) (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: Schedule 5 of the Bill sets out details of the individual employment enactments, specified provisions of enactments and statutory instruments under which a person will be able to present a complaint or refer a dispute to the director general of the WRC. Amendments Nos. 166 to 171 are of a technical and drafting nature and are necessary to ensure that all of the enactments, specified...

Workplace Relations Bill 2014: From the Seanad (Resumed) (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: Schedule 6 sets out the consequential amendments that it will be necessary to make to other employment enactments and statutory instruments as a result of the new structures for the adjudication of complaints and disputes that will be introduced by this Bill. Amendments Nos. 173 to 237, inclusive, to schedule 6 are of a technical and drafting nature and are necessary and appropriate to...

Workplace Relations Bill 2014: From the Seanad (Resumed) (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: I thank the many people in my office and in the Office of the Attorney General for their patience and perseverance. I thank Deputy Tóibín and many other Members of the House. When we looked at this area of amendment we saw a system that unfortunately had considerable duplication, complexity and delays, and we undertook to reform it. Little did we know how complex it would be...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: I welcome the publication of the EU’s draft Regulatory Cooperation Chapter which is intended to provide the framework for ongoing regulatory cooperation under TTIP. This is an area where significant mutual gains can be made which will promote trade and job creation. It will be a particular area of interest for Ireland with our large pharmaceutical and medical device sectors, It offers...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Action Plan for Jobs (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: Action Plan for Jobs (APJ) 2015 was published in January this year and is the fourth in the multi-annual series of a whole of government approach to economic recovery, export growth and job creation. The Action Plan for Jobs set a target to increase employment by 100,000 by 2016 and we are well on track to achieve that figure this year, ahead of the target. Much work remains to be done...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Employment Appeals Tribunal (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: I am advised by the Employment Appeals Tribunal that, currently, the average waiting time for a hearing before the Tribunal is 63 weeks. This has reduced from an average of 79.5 weeks in 2012 and every effort is being made to finalise cases on hand as efficiently as possible. The Tribunal indicate that there are currently approximately 3,500 cases on hand. There is likely to be a small number...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: The purpose of the negotiations on a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is to reduce barriers to trade and investment in order to generate jobs and growth. According to assessments made by the EU Commission and other European bodies, a comprehensive TTIP could over time boost EU GDP by 0.5% per annum bringing significant economic gains as a whole for the EU. This injection...