Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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I think it may be useful to set out the process by which an application for a Sectorial Employment Order (SEO) in a particular sector is developed and the role that the  Minister and the Oireachtas has in this regard.

The Industrial Relations Act 2015 provides a new framework under which proposals for wage setting in particular economic sectors can be considered. The 2015 legislation was developed in response to the finding by the Supreme Court that the previous regime of Registered Employment Agreements was unconstitutional.

The 2015 Act allows for applications for SEOs to be made to the Labour Court by a trade union or an employer body either individually or on a joint basis. The Court must then examine and assess the application against the criteria set down in the 2015 legislation. This includes the issue of how representative the union or employer body is in the particular economic sector.

The Labour Court advertises in the national media its intention to undertake an examination of the application for the sector before it and invites submissions from all interested parties. I should emphasise that it is open to any interested party to make a submission to the Court at that point. In addition, parties that make written submissions to the Court will subsequently be invited to a hearing on the matter at the Court where further oral submissions can be made to the Court.

Following examination by the Court of the merits of the application against the criteria set down in the legislation, the Court can either decide to submit a recommendation to the Minister to adopt the proposal for a sectorial agreement by way of a Ministerial Order or, it can decide not to submit a recommendation.

My role as Minister is to examine the Labour Court recommendation and to ensure that in its examination, the Court has taken account of the relevant criteria set down in the 2015 legislation.

In the current instance of the SEO affecting plumbers, pipefitters etc. the Labour Court recommendation was submitted to me in December 2017.  The Labour Court had previously advertised the application presented to it by the UNITE and TEEU trade unions in the national media and invited submissions in July 2017. Four submissions were received from the Mechanical Engineering and Building Services Contractors’ Association; the TEEU; Unite and the Construction Workers Pension Scheme. All submissions supported the application before the Court.

Having considered the Labour Court recommendation, I accepted the recommendation on the basis that it met the requirements of the 2015 Act and a draft of a Ministerial Order to give effect to the SEO was laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas on 25 January 2018. The matter was referred to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Business, Enterprise and Innovation in February 2018 and got the approval of both Houses of the Oireachtas also in February.

It should be noted also, that in tandem with this statutory process, employers and unions in this sector had already signed up to a voluntary agreement, on foot of proposals developed working with the Workplace Relations Commission which provided most recently for a 2.5% increase from 1 March 2018.  This increase is in line with the rates now provided for in the SEO which has been signed into law to take effect from 6 March 2018.