Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Question 109: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment her views on the report of the inquiry into the dispute between a union (details supplied) and employers in the electrical contracting industry; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4831/10]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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On 15 December 2009, the Tánaiste and I published the independent report into the industrial relations dispute between the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union and Employers in the electrical contracting industry that resulted in a nationwide strike in July, 2009. The report was commissioned under Section 38 (2) of the Industrial Relations Act 1990.

The report focuses attention on the areas that can be usefully addressed to improve relationships between all the parties in the electrical contracting sector. It affords all stakeholders a timely opportunity for reflection on the best means of achieving a comprehensive integrated solution to all the issues raised in the context of the dispute.

The report sets out a series of recommendations that highlight the scope for

effecting improvements in the representative decision making structures dealing with industrial relations issues in the sector;

adapting the current sectoral collective agreement to the changing needs of the sector and the wider economy in the current environment; and

effecting improvements in the current system for achieving compliance with employment standards within the sector.

The main thrust of the recommendations in the report is directed to the stakeholders in the electrical contracting sector. There are also a number of areas in which the report has highlighted how the State's industrial relations agencies together with the public bodies responsible for the public procurement policy, can assist those involved in establishing better and more inclusive negotiating arrangements.

My Department had written to representatives of all stakeholders involved in the sector encouraging them to consult within their organisations on the conclusions and recommendations in the report and inviting them to participate on an Implementation Group comprising of representatives of those organisations who have accepted the conclusions and recommendations of the Report. A number of the stakeholder bodies have since requested additional time to consider the report and their responses are awaited.

Both the Tánaiste and I endorse the main conclusion of the report that the National Joint Industrial Council should be totally reformed through the introduction of new rules. I agree, moreover, that the establishment of the proposed Implementation Group would provide the best means of completing that task.