Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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Question 223: To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he will instruct fellow Departments and State agencies to implement, as employers, recommendations made by the Labour Court over matters brought before it when industrial disputes arise in said Departments or State agencies. [12386/12]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Ireland's system of industrial relations is, essentially, voluntary in nature and responsibility for the resolution of industrial disputes is a matter for the parties involved. The system of industrial relations in Ireland is designed to help and support parties in their efforts to resolve their differences, rather than imposing a solution on the parties to an industrial dispute. It is expected that parties would come to the Labour Court in good faith and, would be prepared to accept the outcome of any process, including, Labour Court recommendation.

Responsibility for the settlement of a workplace relations dispute rests, ultimately, with the parties themselves. While it would be my wish that all employers in both the public and private sectors would observe Labour Court recommendations, given the voluntarist nature of the process, I am not in a position to instruct them to do so.