Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Nash, who is very much associated with the commencement of the employment orders for the security industry as well as the contract cleaning area, for raising this issue.

I wish to clarify that the employment regulation order that is in place for the security sector came into effect on 1 June last and not 1 June 2016, as had been suggested by the Senator. It is only in effect for the past month of so. The Industrial Relations Act 1946, as amended by the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2012, provides for the making of employment regulation orders, EROs, whereby proposals on pay and other terms and conditions of employment for workers in certain sectors are formulated by joint labour committees, JLCs, and adopted by the Labour Court if the court is satisfied that the JLC has complied with the relevant sections of the 2012 Act. The Labour Court then makes a recommendation to the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and, if the Minister is satisfied that the Act has been complied with, the Minister will make an employment regulation order, the terms of which are legally enforceable and applicable to all employers in those sectors. It is important to note that they are legally enforceable.

Statutory Instrument No. 231 of 2017, Employment Regulation Order (Security Industry Joint Labour Committee) 2017, came into effect on 1 June 2017 following a consultation process that commenced in January last, following which the security industry JLC agreed proposals on terms and conditions for security operatives. These were subsequently adopted by the Labour Court which submitted a recommendation to me. Being satisfied that the relevant provisions of the 2012 Act were complied with I signed an order on 30 May last. Prior to that order coming into effect, Statutory Instrument No. 417 of 2015, Employment Regulation Order (Security Industry Joint Labour Committee) 2015, which came into operation on 1 October 2015, applied to the sector.

The number of inspections carried out by inspectors from the Workplace Relations Commission in the security sector between 1 October 2015 and December 2015 were three, with two employers in breach. In 2016, there were 17 inspections, with five employers in breach. It might be useful to the Senator to know that there have been five inspections to the end of May 2017, with two employers in breach. The Workplace Relations Commission anticipates that a similar number of inspections will be carried out in the sector this year as compared to last year.

I note what Senator Nash has been saying about rogue security firms and will take it on board.