Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 389: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the safeguard measures in place in the case of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 11; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41365/06]

Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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The Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977 to 2005 protect employees from being unfairly dismissed by laying down criteria by which dismissals are judged to be unfair and by providing an adjudication system and redress for an employee whose dismissal is found to be unfair. A claim for redress under the Acts may be submitted initially to either of the adjudicative bodies specified in the Acts i.e. a Rights Commissioner or the Employment Appeals Tribunal within 6 months of the date of dismissal (this can be extended to 12 months in exceptional circumstances).

Redress may take the form of either financial compensation, re-instatement or re-engagement, whichever the relevant adjudicative body considers appropriate having regard to all the circumstances. To qualify to take a case under the Unfair Dismissals Acts, an employee is normally required to have at least one year's continuous service with the employer at the date of the dismissal. Section 14(4) (as amended) of the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 provides that where an employee is dismissed, the employer shall, if requested, provide particulars in writing of the principal grounds for dismissal to the employee within 14 days of the request. If the reason for dismissal was related to any of the nine grounds of discrimination which include age and disability (including a range of health-related circumstances), the employee may wish to consider making a complaint to the Equality Tribunal under the Employment Equality Acts 1998 and 2004. These Acts are administered by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform through the Equality Authority. However it is important to note that redress is not available under more than one of the above-mentioned pieces of legislation. Finally, if an employee decides to sue an employer for "wrongful dismissal" or "breach of contract", it is possible that the employer could, for example, cite "frustration of contract", particularly after a long and protracted period of absence due to illness, as a defence for terminating the contract of employment.