Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 65: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if his attention has been drawn to the average waiting time of up to 11 months to have cases heard by the Employment Appeals Tribunal; the steps being taken to reduce waiting times; if he has had a request for additional personnel or resources from the tribunal; if these requests have been met; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4053/08]

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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The current overall average waiting time for a case to be heard before the Employment Appeals Tribunal is 44 weeks.

I understand that the Tribunal has been taking steps to reduce this waiting time, including targeting areas of the country where the waiting time is longest.

The Government undertook in the Social Partnership Agreement, Towards 2016 to increase the staffing resources of the Tribunal. The commitment is for an increase of 8 staff. To date 5 extra staff have been deployed. I expect that these extra staff will enable the Tribunal to substantially reduce the waiting time for a hearing.

The Tribunal Chairperson has drawn attention at meetings with the Department to the lack of sufficient staff resources. The Department will be in a position to assign the remaining 3 staff to the Tribunal in the near future which will address the resources issue.