Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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133. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he plans to amend legislation to address the situation where job interviewees are given malicious and false references by a former employer, resulting in the offer of employment being withdrawn from the interviewee; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20211/23]

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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Ireland has a robust suite of employment rights legislation, which offers extensive protections to workers. My Department has no plans at present to introduce new legislation to govern employment references.

While there is no statutory entitlement to a reference from an employer, where an employer does provide a reference, they have a duty of care to ensure it is fair and not misleading.

Where an employee believes their employer has provided a false employment reference, legal recourse may be possible where an under the Defamation Act 2009, which falls under the responsibility of the Minister for Justice.