Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 439: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the reason teachers are precluded from access to the Labour Court to pursue individual grievances; if, as the arbitration and conciliation process that is in place only deals with teachers as a group, there is a forum to which an individual teacher can take their case if they are not satisfied with the response they receive from their board of management; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13663/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Access to the disputes settling agencies- Labour Relations Commission, Labour Court and Rights Commissioner Service- is governed by the definition of "worker" in Section 23(1) of the Industrial Relations Act 1990. At present teachers do not have access to these agencies as they are specifically excluded from the definition of "worker". Teachers are instead served by an agreed scheme of conciliation and arbitration for teachers which operates to provide a means acceptable to the managerial authorities of national and second level schools, the teacher unions and the Ministers for Education and Science and Finance for dealing with claims and proposals relating to the salaries and conditions of service of teachers. The scheme provides for conciliation, facilitation and, if agreement does not prove possible, arbitration by the Teachers Arbitration Board. The Arbitration Board is appointed by the Government. An individual serving as a teacher continues to have a right to submit through the normal channels any statement he or she may wish to make to his or her employer on any matter affecting his or her official position or, if appropriate, to have the matter pursued through appropriate grievance procedures agreed between the teacher unions and the managerial authorities of schools. Accordingly claims by or on behalf of individuals are excluded from the scope of the conciliation and arbitration scheme. The grievance procedures, agreed between the managerial authorities of schools and the teacher unions, provide access to a dispute resolution mechanism as the last stage of the procedure. In addition individual rights based legislation such as the Maternity Protection Act 2004 provides that an employee (including a teacher) may refer a dispute to a rights commissioner and on appeal to the Employment Appeals Tribunal.