Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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209. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his plans to introduce the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill to provide a new legislative framework for registered employment agreements before the summer recess. [13910/15]

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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The Government has approved the drafting of the legislation to provide for a revised legislative framework to replace REAs. This follows the 2013 judgement by the Supreme Court in the McGowan case which made the registration of employment agreements, including those governing sectoral terms and conditions, invalid. The main purpose of the legislation is twofold. Firstly, it will provide for the reintroduction of a mechanism for the registration of employment agreements between an employer or employers and trade unions governing terms and conditions in individual enterprises. Such agreements will not be legally binding beyond the subscribing parties.

The Bill will, separately, provide for a new statutory framework for establishing minimum rates of remuneration and other terms and conditions of employment for a specified type, class or group of – in effect a framework to replace the former sectoral REA system. In this context, the new framework proposes a mechanism whereby, in future, at the request, separately or jointly from organisations substantially representative of employers and/or of workers, the Labour Court can initiate a review of the pay and pension and sick pay entitlements of workers in a particular sector and, if it deems it appropriate, make a recommendation to the Minister on the matter. If the Minister is satisfied that the process provided for in the new legislation has been complied with by the Labour Court, he shall make the Order. Where such an order is made it will be binding across the sector to which it relates, and will be enforceable by the National Employment Rights Authority.

The proposed legislation has completed pre-legislative scrutiny and is due to be published shortly.