Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Bill makes adequate provision for an increase in the staffing of the Labour Court. It also makes provision for the making of temporary appointments to the Labour Court to cover certain absences of a full-time officer or member. There is no case to support the creation of a panel of temporary members. The Labour Court is bound to act judicially at all times and to avoid bias or the perception of bias. When the new appointments to the Labour Court envisaged in the Bill have been made, the court will consist of 13 officers or members. This allows for a significantly increased number of possible combinations of personnel to deal with any particular case and thus considerably reduces the possibility of a division of the court having to recuse itself to avoid the perception of bias.