Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party)
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15. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if additional resources will be required to reduce current waiting times for Employment Appeals Tribunal hearings from the current average of over a year to three months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18418/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the Employment Appeals Tribunal that, currently, the average waiting time for a hearing before the Tribunal is 63 weeks. This has reduced from an average of 79.5 weeks in 2012 and every effort is being made to finalise cases on hand as efficiently as possible. The Tribunal indicate that there are currently approximately 3,500 cases on hand. There is likely to be a small number of cases, which may prove difficult to finalise in the short to medium term, including some cases adjourned, due to parallel High Court proceedings.

The Deputy will be aware that, as part of the current reform of Workplace Relations Services, the functions of the Employment Appeals Tribunal will be transferred to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) and the Labour Court insofar as first instance complaints and appeals respectively are concerned. The Employment Appeals Tribunal will continue to function for a limited period, after the establishment of the WRC, to finalise complaints and appeals which were lodged before commencement of the enabling legislation and will be dissolved on finalisation of those legacy cases. The decision to extend the period of operation of the Tribunal beyond the establishment of the new framework is predicated on the assumption that complainants and respondents in matters referred to the EAT prior to the establishment of the WRC would have a legitimate expectation of having the case disposed of before a tripartite tribunal, sitting in public and operating with the degree of procedural formality currently applied by the EAT.

With effect from the commencement of the enabling legislation, therefore, no new complaints or appeals will be presented to the Employment Appeals Tribunal, which will then be in a position to focus its resources on finalising legacy cases. My objective is to ensure that the Tribunal has the necessary resources to progress these cases to finality in an efficient and effective manner and within a reasonable timeframe.

More efficient and effective receipt, registration and referral of workplace relations complaints has already led to the removal of the hearings backlog in certain cases, particularly in the case of the Rights Commissioner Service. My objective as part of the Reform Programme is to greatly reduce the waiting time for hearings by putting in place a target period of three months from the time of complaint to hearing.

I am committed to ensuring that the Workplace Relations Commission will have the appropriate level of resources to ensure that waiting times are reduced and decisions issued on a timely basis. I am pleased to say that some 19 new Adjudication Officers, selected for appointment following an open competition conducted by the Public Appointments Service, will shortly complete an accredited training programme. These Adjudicators, together with the current cohort of Equality Officers and Rights Commissioners who will be appointed as WRC adjudicators, will be available for deployment on the establishment of the Workplace Relations Commission. The adjudication resources at the disposal of the Commission will, therefore, comprise a diverse group of experienced industrial relations and HR practitioners, employment lawyers and civil servants with appropriate skills and experience.

Work is proceeding at an accelerated pace on progressing a comprehensive programme of work to ensure that our workplace relations services are business ready. This critical work includes the rationalisation of accommodation and hearings venues in conjunction with OPW on a phased basis, finalising arrangements for the introduction of compliance notices and fixed charge notices in support of inspection activities, the transitioning of e-business, the phasing out of ICT systems in line with the rationalisation of services and implementing the proposed Customer Relationship Management Solution to support complaints and adjudication management.