Written answers

Tuesday, 20 March 2007

Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment

Industrial Relations

11:00 pm

Photo of Bernard AllenBernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 571: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the reason he has not appointed a rights commissioner to be located in Cork in view of the fact that no Cork or Kerry based rights commissioner has been appointed in the past ten years and particularly in view of the fact that, where industrial grievances exist, the parties involved face a delay of approximately nine months for a hearing. [9504/07]

Photo of Tony KilleenTony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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The Rights Commissioner Service operates as a service of the Labour Relations Commission. The Labour Relations Commission is an independent statutory body. It acts independently in the carrying out of its day-to-day functions and the Commission is solely responsible for the allocation of its resources.

The Labour Relations Commission has its headquarters in Dublin, but rights commissioners hear cases in all parts of the country. Of the nine rights commissioners, two have been designated to hear cases in the Munster region. One of these has been serving the Munster region since 1996 and the second was appointed in 2006. Other rights commissioners hear cases in the Munster region as required. It would not be practical to appoint a commissioner to deal with cases from just one county.

It is the stated commitment of the Labour Relations Commission to provide speedy arrangements for the adjudication and resolution of cases. Delays in the processing of cases are regrettable and the Commission endeavours at all times to keep delays to a minimum.

Cases referred to a rights commissioner are normally dealt with within 6 months. Cases that take nine months to be heard, as referred to in the Deputy's question, are rare and this extra delay would be the result of requests for adjournments by the employer or employee or other unique factors. Significant additional resources have been allocated to the Rights Commissioner Service to assist it in dealing with its 6-month backlog of cases. For example, the number of rights commissioners increased from six to eight in 2004 and a ninth rights commissioner was appointed in 2006. This represents a 50% increase in the number of rights commissioners in the last 3 years. The number of support staff also increased and significant financial resources were allocated to the development of a new case management system. To ensure that the Commission can continue to deal with its increasing caseload, the Government has committed itself in Towards 2016 to the appointment of five additional rights commissioners, increasing, as necessary, in line with the commissioners' caseload.

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