Damien English (Meath, Fine Gael)
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Question 353: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment further to a decision by the Employment Appeals Tribunal, details supplied, if he has plans to review or change the legislation governing this area of employment law; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23726/05]

Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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There are no plans at present to review or change the legislation governing this particular area of employment law. However, the Government has recently established the employment rights review group, comprising representatives of this Department, the employment rights bodies — Labour Court, Employment Appeals Tribunal and Labour Relations Commission — Rights Commissioner Service — and the social partners. The employment rights review group will work to improve considerably the levels of customer service that the various employment rights bodies can offer to those using the dispute resolution services. It will also facilitate the simplification and modernisation of procedures and provide greater transparency and ease of access for all users. The employment rights review group will be chaired by an assistant secretary at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and will report annually to the Government on progress and issues arising.

A related programme of work is to be undertaken by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, in co-operation with the Office of the Attorney General to simplify, harmonise and consolidate the corpus of employment rights legislation. This programme, to be assisted by the employment rights review group, will bring forward proposals for a coherent and consolidated corpus of legislation for consideration by Government. This will not involve changes in statutory employment rights entitlements or affect the adjudicative independence of the employment rights bodies.