Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 419: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation the number of applications received by the Employment Appeals Tribunal as at 30 September 2010 awaiting allocation of a hearing date; the number of such cases for which a hearing date has been given; the number of such claims received by the tribunal not yet acknowledged to which no hearing date has yet been given and the date of receipt of claims last acknowledged; the steps, if any, being taken to reduce the delays being experienced by applicants in having their claims heard and determined; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34833/10]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The answers to the Deputy's statistical questions are as follows

The Employment Appeals Tribunal, like the Rights Commissioners Service of the Labour Relations Commission, is one of those public bodies in the front-line of the fallout from the current turbulence in the labour market and economy generally. Claims to the Tribunal have increased from 3,173 in 2007 to 9,458 in 2009. I am informed by the Tribunal that this trend has continued in 2010 with 7,562 new claims lodged between January and the end of September. This level of increase has had an impact on case processing timeframes.

I am informed by the Tribunal that the longest waiting period for a claim at the end of September for a Hearing of the Tribunal ranged between 29 and 74 weeks depending on location. The figures can be somewhat misleading. The Tribunal conducts Hearings in about 36 locations around the country. In some areas, where the number of cases is relatively small, the Tribunal may wait until a sufficient number of cases is on hands to make a visit worthwhile. In such areas, 4 or 5 days of Hearings may reduce the "waiting time" in the area concerned by 30 to 40 weeks. The real concern has to be in those areas where there are very high volumes of cases. I am acutely aware of the pressures on the system and the delays experienced by both claimants and employers. My officials and I are in regular contact with the heads of the employment rights bodies in this regard.

The Tribunal itself has been pro-active in introducing efficiencies. Divisions of the Tribunal are sitting longer, listing more cases per hearing and seeking to manage their affairs to maximise efficiency. These efforts have resulted in a marked increase in output as the chart below shows.

Despite this marked increase in throughput, a sizeable backlog has developed due to the continuing high level of claims with a resultant increase in waiting times. Various additional steps are being put in place to deal with this, including a pilot initiative in one region to target the hearing of redundancy claims. That has been in operation for 9 weeks and, to date, has seen waiting periods for redundancy claims decrease from 47.5 weeks to 29 weeks. The possibility of having a similar initiative in Dublin is being actively considered in the light of available resources.

The IT system in the EAT is 20 years old and an examination, earlier in the year, concluded that it needs to be replaced by a system capable of more effectively dealing with the level of claims now being submitted. A Business Process Review is being conducted of all administrative processes within the Tribunal before any new IT system is commissioned. That Review is due to be completed this month, following which I will consider what further action can be taken to improve the level of customer service.