Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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238. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of court prosecutions initiated by the Workplace Relations Commission in each of the years 2014 to 2018; the result of each of these court cases; the number and values of fines issued in each year; the value of fines collected each year; the value of fines still outstanding in respect of these prosecutions; the arrangements in place to collect the outstanding fines; if she will provide an age analysis of these outstanding fines; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15348/19]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) was established on the 1 October 2015 assuming the roles and functions previously carried out by the National Employment Rights Authority (NERA), Equality Tribunal (ET), Labour Relations Commission (LRC), Rights Commissioners Service (RCS), and the first-instance (Complaints and Referrals) functions of the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT).

The aim of the WRC’s Inspectorate Division, (formerly NERA), is to achieve voluntary compliance with employment law through the provision of education and awareness, inspection of employers’ employment records and enforcement where necessary.

The WRC also utilises Compliance Notices as provided for in the 2015 Workplace Relations Act and works with employers to bring about compliance.  In many such cases, defendants will make payments outstanding to staff and bring records up to date and become compliant in advance of the court hearing. Some such cases are withdrawn or struck out.  As such the WRC is required to proceed to prosecution in a small number of cases to achieve compliance. In other cases before the courts the Probation Act may be applied (often directing a donation to charity and sometimes a contribution to the State’s costs as part of the final Order of the Court), so no fines apply in those cases.

The following Table sets out the number of court prosecutions initiated during the period 2014 to 2018; the number of convictions achieved in that period and the value of fines imposed.

Neither the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation nor the WRC have a role in the collection of fines. The collection of fines and processing of outstanding fines is a matter for the Courts Service, an Garda Siochána and the Irish Prison Service.

Prosecution Cases