Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak on this motion. There is much in it which the Government can support but also elements the Government cannot support. I pay tribute to the former Minister of State and Deputy, Senator Ged Nash, for the good work that did in the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation on industrial relations and also on his stellar work with small businesses. I can understand why the Senators would consider making some of the points contained in the motion. I also accept that the motion is intended to be constructive as opposed to just playing mere politics, and I thank the Members for affording me the opportunity to speak to it.

We can all welcome the forecasts for continued economic growth and falling unemployment, and it is my number one goal as Minister to see this continue. The country has witnessed a significant improvement in the economy over recent years but there is still a lot to do. With more than 2 million people in employment for the first time since 2009, there was an annual increase of 56,000 in employment in 2015. The Government believes that a growing economy should sustain well-paid jobs through which more citizens share in economic prosperity, and I stress the Government's support for a social economy model which delivers a strong economy and a fair society. This Government recognises that economic and social progress go hand in hand. In my view, it is the economy that serves society, not the other way around. A strong economy is needed to support people at work and to pay for the services needed to create a fair society.

We have seen sustained job creation and reducing unemployment, and we are focused on full employment and people having good sustainable jobs. I have spent a major part of the summer travelling throughout Ireland, through the regions and rural areas, listening, learning and speaking to implementation groups of action plans for jobs. I have announced thousands of jobs and I can honestly say that the jobs were well-paying one, the effects of which will trickle down into the community to help retail and hospitality, such as restaurants, in towns and villages. Full employment in sustainable jobs is what will make possible all other plans for better services, higher living standards and, ultimately, better lives for people living in Ireland. The measures agreed by Government in the Action Plan for Jobs and the regional action plans will promote job creation and employment growth in all parts of the country. I am determined that good jobs come to rural and regional areas. These measures are being delivered on. The Government will use the benefits of a strong economy to ensure we have a fair society.

The Labour Party motion calls for a new body representative of employers and employees to intervene in protracted industrial disputes. I consider the creation of such a permanent new body unnecessary as it runs the risk of undermining the role of the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, and the Labour Court. I can understand why high-profile disputes such as those at the Luas and Dublin Bus lead to such calls, but we must remember that hundreds of other disputes each year are resolved by the WRC and the Labour Court without strike action. Parties to many of these disputes would feel they had not exhausted the industrial relations, IR, process or done the utmost for their members if they did not have the matter considered in some way by a higher body. Thus, the everyday work of the WRC and the Labour Court would be undermined.

The Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Court have been shown to be effective dispute settling industrial relations institutions within our voluntary system of industrial relations. The Workplace Relations Commission has a suite of services to assist employees and employers maintain harmonious industrial relations. The Workplace Relations Commission advisory service promotes good practice in the workplace by assisting and advising organisations in all aspects of industrial relations.Its mediation service encourages the discussion and resolution of disputes in the workplace at local level. Mediation provides an opportunity for those involved to address issues locally and reach workable solutions. If mediation is not appropriate, the Workplace Relations Commission offers a conciliation service to parties that find themselves in dispute. The conciliation service helps employers and their employees to resolve disputes when they have failed to reach agreement during their previous negotiations. The substantial majority of cases referred to conciliation are settled. The conciliation service's handling of industrial relations disputes is becoming increasingly important as levels of actual or threatened industrial action increase. The number of referrals to the conciliation service was 513 over the first six months of 2016. If conciliation does not produce an agreement, a dispute may be referred to the Labour Court. A total of 26 disputes have been referred to the Labour Court since the beginning of the year. In the context of many of these referrals, significant progress was made at the conciliation stage in terms of narrowing the differences between the parties and this led to the number of issues requiring definitive Labour Court recommendations being reduced.

The programme for a partnership Government states that the Government will respect the Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Court as the proper forums for State intervention in industrial relations disputes. I reiterate that the creation of an additional higher body in the State to intervene in protracted industrial relations disputes is unnecessary. I welcome the establishment of the new Labour Employer Economic Forum. This is a formal tripartite structure designed to facilitate enhanced dialogue. The first meeting of the labour-employer economic forum, with An Taoiseach chairing, will take place next week.

I acknowledge, as I must, the progress made in recent years in reforming the workplace relations bodies. It is important for us to reflect on the progress made in recent years to improve the industrial relations institutions of the State and the industrial relations legislation used by workers and employers. In the course of the workplace relations reforms, five bodies were merged into two, namely, the Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Court. These changes provide a better service at lower cost to employees and employers. This represents the most significant reform of the State's employment rights and industrial relations machinery in 70 years. The average waiting time for a hearing before the Workplace Relations Commission is now between three and four months. Waiting times to hear legacy Employment Appeals Tribunal cases are down from 128 weeks at the start of 2015 to 53 weeks. Labour Court waiting times have fallen from ten to six weeks. Cases awaiting hearing by the Employment Appeals Tribunal had fallen from 3,000 to 868 by the end of the second quarter of this year. Waiting times are between 32 and 49 weeks and falling rapidly. The joint labour committee system has also been restored. Employers and their representatives can again come together voluntarily and negotiate the terms and conditions of workers in their respective sectors.

Welcome reforms have been made to our collective bargaining laws through the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2015, which commenced in August last year. The legislation provides for a clear and balanced mechanism by which the fairness of the total employment conditions of workers can be assessed by the Labour Court where collective bargaining does not take place. These changes bring clarity and certainty for employers in terms of managing their workplaces. There have been other developments in recent years including in relation to wage-setting mechanisms. The Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2015 provides for a revised legislative framework to replace the registered employment agreement framework. That Act sets out a replacement framework for registered employment agreements in individual enterprises and includes a new mechanism whereby pay, pension and sick pay provisions in a particular sector can be established, agreed and enforced by way of a sectoral employment order. Ireland's comprehensive suite of employment rights legislation sets out protections for all workers.

I emphasise that throughout the crisis, the Government was committed to maintaining employment rights, particularly those designed to protect the most vulnerable workers in society. If anything, the changes that were made and the new legislation have improved protections. I welcome the commitment in the programme for Government to tackle the problems caused by the increased casualisation of work and to strengthen the regulation of precarious work. To this end, I am committed to considering an appropriate policy response to the report of the University of Limerick, UL, on zero-hour and low-hour contracts in the Irish economy. In response to the report, my Department sought submissions from interested parties by way of a public consultation process. A large number of submissions were received by the closing date and the responses contained a variety of views for and against the findings and recommendations made by UL. The responses require and are being given careful consideration by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. The study and the responses to it will be considered by Government with a view to agreeing the actions that should be taken. I would like to secure broad agreement on the proposals and, as such, I have asked the Department to engage with employer and employee representatives in the coming weeks to achieve this aim.

I condemn in very strong terms the way the Clerys workers were treated. It is my firm intention to amend the law, as necessary, to ensure that nobody will be left in that situation again. My predecessors in the Department initiated the Duffy-Cahill report as part of the response to the closure. The report sets out a number of recommendations for changes to employment law. My Department has initiated a public consultation and quite divergent views have been received on the recommendations. The Company Law Review Group has also been asked to examine ways to amend company law to better protect employees and unsecured creditors. It will report in the coming months. The Minister of State, Deputy Breen, and I are committed to bringing proposals to Government seeking agreement to make the necessary changes in response to the Duffy-Cahill report. However, as this will involve technical and complex legal issues, it is important to take legal advice to ensure that any changes are correct. The reason this process is taking time is because of the need to get it right legally. It is not because of any lack of commitment on my part or that of the Minister of State.

In the context of the Dublin Bus dispute, I acknowledge the considerable disruption suffered by commuters and the financial impact on business in the city. There is no doubt that retail businesses suffer when people do not have access to transport. The Labour Party motion calls, inter alia, for the restoration of the public subsidy to Dublin Bus to pre-crisis levels. The Exchequer provides substantial recurring financial assistance to Dublin Bus in the form of the subvention funding provided in return for the provision of public service obligation services. It also provides capital funding, principally for the purposes of bus fleet renewal and expansion.Over the period 2008 to 2015, this financial assistance totalled €772 million. The key priority in supporting public transport services in the future should be to secure service improvements in public transport. The priority for additions to public transport subvention should be based on the proposed impact of improved services to the public. Access to public transport is an extremely important social issue, especially for those who are mobility impaired. While I support efforts to improve the public transport offering, it should be done based on detailed analysis by the National Transport Authority and considered in the context of the budget.

I welcome the ongoing discussions taking place at the WRC between all parties to the Dublin Bus dispute and I am sure we can all join together in hoping progress can be made. I assure the House of the Government's commitment to continuing the momentum made in reforming the workplace relations bodies, industrial relations and employment rights legislation. These measures are aimed at protecting workers' rights, particularly our most vulnerable workers, and at promoting a stable industrial relations environment. I look forward to working in a constructive and positive manner with colleagues across all sides of the House. I thank the Senators for this opportunity and I look forward to hearing their views during the rest of the debate.