Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I rise this morning to ask whether industrial relations mean anything in this country. Have we any respect for the processes which have been put in place? The Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, and the Labour Court provide resolutions to industrial disputes and yet State run organisations, in particular, decide to totally ignore them. When I was the leader of a trade union, I took cases which had favourable adjudication at the WRC and the Labour Court. However, I had to go to the courts to have it implemented. This is an outrageous waste of Government money.

Right now, there are adjudications sitting on desks in the Department of the Public Expenditure and Reform in favour of the Garda superintendents and community employment scheme workers, going back two or three years, which have not been implemented. There was an announcement that pay negotiations had been finalised and that we are waiting on the Army and Garda members to vote on these pay negotiations. They were not included in the negotiations. Their pay was negotiated by a teacher, a nurse and two trade unionists. They had no place at the table. They were given a note at the end of negotiations and were told what the deal was and to ask their members to vote for it.

Have we any respect for proper industrial relations in this country? If we have, then how are we going to implement recommendations? Recommendations from the Workplace Relations Commission or the Labour Court should be implemented. We should not find that people have to beg for their implementation. Who are the gatekeepers in relation to this? Are they within the political system or are they in the permanent Government? Whoever the gatekeepers are, they need to stop what they are doing and start recognising the rights of workers in this country. We are quick enough to run them into the Labour Court or the WRC for a resolution. I ask that a discussion on this issue be allowed in the near future.