Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 377: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if his attention has been drawn to of the situation where a company (details supplied) is refusing to recognise union representatives for its workers from south of the border, while willingly dealing with union representatives for workers north of the border; and his views on whether this kind of double standard is a form of discrimination against Irish workers. [6239/08]

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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It has been established in a number of legal cases that the constitutional guarantee of 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. The Industrial Relations (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2004 and S.I. No. 139 of 2004 contain specific protections for employees against victimisation as regards trade union membership or activity in situations where it is not the practice of the employer to engage in collective bargaining negotiations, the internal dispute resolution procedures (if any) normally used by the parties concerned have failed to resolve the dispute and a trade union or an excepted body has taken steps to invoke the procedures under S.I. No. 76 of 2004.

More generally, matters relating to discrimination come within the remit of my colleague Mr Brian Lenihan, TD, Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, although I understand that the Employment Equality Acts 1998 to 2007 do not address the issue of discrimination in relation to trade union membership.