Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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94. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his views that the Equality Tribunal lacks the powers to compel respondents in discrimination cases to furnish complainants with information and-or documentation relevant to the complainants' cases, thus hampering a complainant in the preparation of a case in the run-up to a hearing before the tribunal, which compromises their right to a fair hearing and undermines the principle of equality of arms in legal proceeding. [33576/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Equality Tribunal is independent in the exercise of its quasi-judicial functions and I have no direct involvement in its day to day operations. The Equality Tribunal has jurisdiction to investigate and decide upon complaints of discrimination under the Employment Equality Acts, the Equal Status Acts and the Pensions Acts. The Equality Tribunal also provides a statutory mediation service.

Under the Employment Equality Acts a person who believes that he or she may have experienced discrimination is entitled under Section 76 of the Acts to write to the person he or she believes may have carried out the discriminating action asking for certain information. A statutory form of questionnaire (Form EE.2) is available from the Tribunal and can be downloaded from the website. A statutory reply form gives the person who receives the questionnaire an opportunity to set out his or her version of events. This form is available (Form EE.3) from the Tribunal and can be downloaded from the website. The Acts state that the Director may draw such inferences as seem appropriate from a respondent failing to reply, or supplying false, misleading or inadequate information.

Under the Equal Status Acts a service provider could be a bank, an educational institution etc. Under the Acts notification of a complaint must be in writing and sent by the complainant to the respondent within two months of the incident complained of (or, in the case of repeated incidents, the most recent one), stating the nature of the allegation and the intention to seek redress under the Equal Status Acts, if not satisfied with the service provider’s response. This standard form allows for questions to be asked of the service provider. A sample reply form is also available to the service provider (Form ES.2) and these forms can be downloaded from the website. The service provider is not obliged to reply but the Acts state that the Tribunal may draw such inferences as seem appropriate if the service provider does not reply or provides a false, misleading or unhelpful reply.

Both parties to a complaint before the Equality Tribunal under equality legislation are requested to provide information in advance of a hearing. The Equality Tribunal does not have the power to compel either party to provide this in advance of the hearing. The Equality Officer, as part of his or her independent investigation ensures that all relevant evidence is provided and both parties are given the opportunity to respond to the evidence. This is in accordance with the principles of fair procedures that underpin the investigation of claims before the Equality Tribunal. Furthermore, Equality Officers have the power under equality legislation to obtain information which they consider they require to enable them to exercise their investigative functions.

As the Deputy will be aware, from 1 October, 2015, a new two-tier Workplace Relations structure will be established comprising two statutorily independent bodies replacing the current five (i.e. the Employment Appeals Tribunal, the National Employment Rights Authority, the Equality Tribunal, the Labour Relations Commission and the Labour Court). We will have a new single body of first instance to be called the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) and a separate appeals body, which will effectively be an expanded Labour Court.

Following the establishment of the new structures all complaints under equality legislation will be dealt with at first instance by the WRC Adjudication Service and on appeal by the Labour Court (with the exception of complaints under the Equal Status Acts where appeals will continue to be dealt with by the Circuit Court). The Workplace Relations Act 2015, which will give legislative effect to these reforms, does not provide for any amendments to the existing provisions within the corpus of employment rights and equality legislation (including the Employment Equality Acts or the Equal Status Acts) which provide for the powers that are currently available to Equality Officers. The powers which were previously available to Equality Officers under those Acts will continue to be available to WRC Adjudication Officers following the establishment of the WRC.

Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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95. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his views on very lengthy delays between the lodging of complaints with the Equality Tribunal and those complaints going forward to mediation and hearing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33577/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Equality Tribunal is independent in the exercise of its quasi-judicial functions and I have no direct involvement in its day to day operations. The Equality Tribunal has jurisdiction to investigate and decide upon complaints of discrimination under the Employment Equality Acts, the Equal Status Acts and the Pensions Acts. The Equality Tribunal also provides a statutory mediation service.

I am informed that the average waiting time for a hearing of a complaint under the Employment Equality Acts is currently approx. 12 months. However, in cases where the complainant and respondent opt for mediation, a mediation hearing is arranged within approx. twelve weeks of the initial lodgement of the complaint.

The Equality Tribunal has recently been endeavouring to put measures in place in order to reduce the current waiting time for a hearing. These measures include the training and appointment of a number of Rights Commissioners and persons from the external panel of WRC Adjudication Officers as temporary Equality Officers. These measures have resulted in the reduction of the waiting time for a hearing in equality cases from 22 months in May, 2015 to 12 months at end September, 2015.

Notwithstanding the efforts of the Equality Tribunal to reduce backlogs and waiting times for hearings, I believe the delays that users of the service are experiencing are unacceptable. This is one of the reasons why I am implementing a root and branch reform of all five Workplace Relations Bodies.

My objective is to deliver a world-class workplace relations service which is simple to use, independent, effective, impartial, cost-effective and provides for workable means of redress and enforcement, within a reasonable period of time.

From 1 October, 2015, a new two-tier Workplace Relations structure will be established comprising two statutorily independent bodies replacing the current five (i.e. the Employment Appeals Tribunal, the National Employment Rights Authority, the Equality Tribunal, the Labour Relations Commission and the Labour Court). We will have a new single body of first instance to be called the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) and a separate appeals body, which will effectively be an expanded Labour Court. All complaints will be dealt with by a single body of first instance where the aim will be to have a hearing within three months from the time the case is lodged.

This Act will also result in the establishment of new structures for the resolution and adjudication of complaints and disputes across the entire corpus of employment rights and equality legislation. The aim of the Act is to create a modern, user-friendly, world-class employment workplace relations system that will provide significant benefits for its users and society as a whole. The focus will be on resolving the workplace disputes as quickly and inexpensively as possible.

Mediation will be offered to facilitate resolution of complaints where possible at an early stage and without recourse to adjudication. Mediation will be offered only where all parties have indicated their willingness to participate in the mediation process and where acceptance by the relevant parties is received. In such circumstances, it is anticipated that the time frame to reach mediation will be three weeks.

The WRC Adjudication Officers will comprise a diverse panel of adjudicators which will include experienced industrial relations and HR practitioners, employment lawyers and civil servants with appropriate skills/qualifications. This will include the current cohort of Rights Commissioners and Equality Officers along with an externally recruited panel of suitably qualified and experienced persons. The 19 Adjudication Officers, selected for appointment following an open competition conducted by the Public Appointments Service in December last year, have undergone intensive training and are now available for assignment. These Adjudicators, together with the pre-Establishment Day cohort of Equality Officers and Rights Commissioners who have been appointed as WRC adjudicators, will be working to provide efficient and effective adjudication on complaints and disputes.

It is anticipated that the waiting time for a hearing under the equality legislation will be reduced by a further three months by the end of 2015.