Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 252: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if his attention has been drawn to the situation where a company (details supplied) is refusing to allow workers from south of the Border to join a union and is therefore depriving its staff of collective bargaining rights; and if he will do anything about it. [5563/08]

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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Under Article 40.6.1 of the Constitution, the State guarantees liberty for the exercise, subject to public order and morality, of, inter alia, "the right of citizens to form associations and unions". In this case, I understand that the company does not object to its workers joining a trade union, but the company has refused to recognise the trade union for collective bargaining purposes. It has been established in a number of legal cases that the constitutional guarantee of the freedom of association does not guarantee workers the right to have their union recognised for the purpose of collective bargaining

The system of industrial relations in Ireland is essentially voluntary in nature. In line with this voluntarist approach, a High Level Group comprising representatives from IBEC, ICTU, and various Government Departments and agencies and chaired by the Department of the Taoiseach was established under Partnership 2000 to consider proposals submitted by ICTU on the recognition of unions and the right to bargain. This Group recommended that two distinct procedures be put in place for the resolution of disputes where negotiation arrangements are not in place and collective bargaining does not exist — a voluntary procedure and a legislative fall back procedure.

These recommendations were implemented through the Industrial Relations Act 1990 (Code of Practice on Voluntary Dispute Resolution) (Declaration) Order 2000 (Statutory Instrument No. 145 of 2000) and the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2001. These measures were improved by the introduction of the Industrial Relations Act 1990 (Enhanced Code of Practice on Voluntary Dispute Resolution) (Declaration) Order 2004 (S.I. No. 76 of 2004), the Industrial Relations Act 1990 (Code of Practice on Victimisation) (Declaration) Order 2004 (S.I. No. 139 of 2004) and the Industrial Relations (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2004. I understand that the trade union involved has availed of the dispute resolution facilities available under the voluntary procedure and that the Labour Relations Commission continues to be in contact with the parties. I hope that their efforts are successful.