Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 135: To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if there are any plans for the introduction of joint labour committees into the hotel industry in the near future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17149/12]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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There are two Joint Labour Committees in place covering the Hotels sector. One covers the entire country, outside of Dublin and Cork. The second covers the Dublin region. However, the Dublin JLC for Hotels has not met since its establishment. A JLC for Cork was never established.

On 7 July 2011, the High Court issued its ruling in a legal challenge, taken by John Grace Fried Chicken Ltd and others, to the JLC system and the 2008 Employment Regulation Order (ERO) covering the Catering Sector outside of Dublin. The High Court ruled that certain provision of the Industrial Relations Acts of 1946 and 1990 governing the making of EROs are unconstitutional and that the 2008 Catering ERO constituted an unlawful and disproportionate interference in the property rights of the plaintiffs. The High Court found that the Acts delegated excessive law-making powers concerning pay and conditions to Joint Labour Committees and the Labour Court without stating any policies or principles to guide those powers.

While the High Court ruling meant that EROs then in place, including the ERO for the Hotels Sector outside of Dublin and Cork, ceased to have statutory effect from that date, the ruling did not address the continued existence of Joint Labour Committees as institutional mechanisms established under statute. Accordingly, the two JLCs for the Hotels Sector remain in existence, albeit without any powers to formulate proposals for an ERO.

The Industrial Relations (Amendment) (No.3) Bill 2011 was published on 22 December 2011. The Bill has completed Second Stage in the Dáil and is currently awaiting Committee Stage.

The main purpose of the Bill is to implement the commitment in the Programme for Government to reform the Joint Labour Committee system. The reform of the legal framework for our statutory wage setting mechanisms is aimed at increasing employers' ability to retain and employ workers, particularly in sectors hard hit by the prevailing economic circumstances, including the Hotel sector, and to facilitate necessary cross-sector adjustment.

In addition, the Bill provides for the more comprehensive measures required to strengthen the legal framework for the EROs and Registered Employment Agreement sectoral wage setting mechanisms, under the Industrial Relations Acts 1946 to 2004, in the light of deficiencies in the original legislation identified in the John Grace Fried Chicken case.

The fact that the process of making EROs was found by the High Court to be unconstitutional, together with the identified lack of adequate Oireachtas scrutiny of this process, only underscores some of the main features of the recommendations for reform that were put forward by the Independent Review Report on these statutory wage setting mechanisms - the Duffy/ Walsh report.

The commissioning of the independent review of the ERO and REA systems was one of the undertakings given by the last Government in the context of the EU and IMF-supported financial assistance programme for Ireland.

When enacted, this Bill, will implement the programme of reforms to the JLC/REA systems agreed by Government in July 2011. It will radically overhaul the system so as to make it fairer and more responsive to changing economic circumstances and labour market conditions. It will also reinstate a robust system of protection for workers in these sectors in the aftermath of the High Court ruling in the John Grace Fried Chicken case.

The Bill provides, inter alia, that the Labour Court will, following the commencement of the Act and at regular 5 year intervals thereafter, conduct a review of all Establishment Orders in respect of existing Joint Labour Committees, including those covering the Hotels sector. Following such review the Labour Court may recommend that: (a ) a JLC be abolished; (b ) a JLC be amalgamated with another JLC; or (c ) that the establishment order for a JLC be amended.

The Bill sets out clear guidance for the Labour Court in carrying out the periodic reviews of JLCs, including whether, in the case of a JLC that represents workers and employers in a particular region in the State, the continuation of such regional representation is justified.

The position of the Hotel sector will be considered in that context.