Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)

Amendment No. 52 is not being pressed by Senator McDowell. It would have involved the deletion of section 11 in any event. Amendment No. 53 requires the insertion of ", subject to subsection (2)," after "may" in page 12, subsection (1), line 39. The amendment was proposed on the advice of the Parliamentary Counsel and it provides a cross-reference to subsection (2), which is amended by amendment No. 55. That cross-reference is necessary.

Amendment No. 54 would remove the right of one or more than one employee or his or her representatives to refer a dispute to the court and would provide that it could be done by a majority of employee representatives or by the written request of at least 15% of employees. The employer's right to refer a dispute would be unchanged under this provision. I am unhappy with the amendment and will return to it.

Amendment No. 55 is to provide for a stage in the dispute resolution process in advance of referral to the Labour Court. This is to allow parties as much support as possible in reaching a voluntary agreement on the issues in dispute. It means the Labour Court will not hear a case referred without first receiving certification from the Labour Relations Commission that no further efforts by it will advance matters. I feel very strongly that it is advisable to make this provision because the Labour Relations Commission has a very good record in this regard.

There is an error in the instructions in this amendment in that "line 45" should read "line 46".