Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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135. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he has held discussions with his officials on the re-establishment of an employer labour conference. [33721/16]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I have no plans for re-establishing an empoyer labour conference. However, the Labour Employer Economic Forum (LEEF) has been established and met on the 5th of October.  The meeting was chaired by An Taoiseach and attended by the sponsoring Ministers of Public Expenditure and Reform, Finance and Jobs Enterprise and Innovation with representatives of employers and trade unions.

The aim of the LEEF is to provide a forum to discuss areas of shared concern affecting the economy, employment and the labour market such as competiveness, sustainable job creation, labour market standards, equality and gender issues in the workplace.  Following the inaugural meeting, it was agreed that the Forum would prove a useful mechanism for ongoing dialogue on challenges facing the country in which all sides had a shared interest and should meet in future on a quarterly basis.