Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 223: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation if he has satisfied himself with the operation of joint labour committee binding agreements in respect of wage levels that are applied in certain sectors; if he or his Department have examined the alleged legal frailty of this approach; if he plans to alter this system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36847/10]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The Joint Labour Committee (JLC) and Registered Employment Agreement (REA) systems have been the subject of a number of recent legal challenges which raised issues specific to particular Employment Regulation Orders (EROs) and REAs.

The Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2009, which has passed all stages in the Seanad and has completed Second Stage in the Dáil, aims to modernise and strengthen the existing arrangements for the making of EROs and REAs and to provide for their more effective operation. To this end, the Bill provides for a number of amendments to the existing legislative framework surrounding the JLC and REA systems, including improved procedures, and clear principles and policies to be taken into account by JLCs when formulating proposals for EROs. The Bill also provides that EROs and REAs will be given legal effect in future by Ministerial Order and that a perceived gap in the scope of parliamentary supervision will be filled by providing for Oireachtas scrutiny of these instruments.

I also announced at the time of the publication of the Bill that I propose to introduce an additional provision in the Bill - to be effected by means of an amendment to the Bill at Committee Stage – to facilitate the inclusion in EROs and REAs of an "inability to pay" mechanism, along the lines of the mechanism provided in the National Minimum Wage Act, 2000 in the interests of further strengthening these mechanisms against future court challenges and to protect employment in situations where employers are faced with severe economic challenges.

My Department and I will continue to monitor developments in this area on an ongoing basis and I would encourage all parties to these agreements to recognise that a little responsiveness and flexibility in the operation of the statutory wage determination machinery would go a long way towards securing jobs.