Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Anti-Austerity Alliance)
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7. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the average waiting time for a person to have an unfair dismissal case heard at the Employment Appeals Tribunal; and the measures she will take to reduce the waiting time to a maximum of two months. [39124/16]

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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With effect from the 1^stOctober 2015, the first instance functions of the Employment Appeals Tribunal and the Labour Court, together with the activities of the National Employment Rights Authority, the Labour Relations Commission (including the Rights Commissioner Service) and the Equality Authority were merged into a new Body of First Instance known as the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC). The Labour Court has also been expanded and serves as a separate appeals body.

The putting in place of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 is the most far-reaching legislative reform in the area of employment and industrial relations in almost 70 years and replaces the previously existing five workplace relations bodies. The result is a more straightforward and user friendly system allowing both expert and non-expert users navigate their way around the employment and industrial relations machinery.

As a result of this fundamental reform programme, the Employment Appeals Tribunal is being wound down. No new claims or appeals have been received by the Tribunal since 30 September 2015. All cases have been offered a first hearing which means the Employment Appeal Tribunal has no backlog.

There are approximately 700 cases remaining to be heard by the Tribunal before it can be formally dissolved.