Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change)
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83. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the measures he will take to intervene in a case where Cobh Heritage Centre, a State-funded organisation, has refused to pass on a WRC pay-increase adjudication (details supplied) to a long-term low-paid employee to ensure the worker is paid the wage the WRC has adjudicated she deserves and that the authority and principles of the WRC are not undermined by a State-funded organisation. [43385/24]

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Ireland’s system of industrial relations is essentially voluntary in nature and responsibility for the resolution of industrial disputes between employers and employees’ rests in the first instance with the employer, the employees, and their representatives. For its part, the State provides the industrial relations dispute settlement mechanisms through the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) and the Labour Court supporting parties in their efforts to resolve their differences.

The WRC is an independent statutory office under the aegis of my Department. The WRC’s core services include adjudication, conciliation, inspection of employment rights compliance, and the provision of information under both industrial relations and employment rights enactments. Whilst Recommendations arising from the WRC under industrial relations legislation are not legally binding given the voluntarist nature of our industrial relations system, While I cannot comment on individual cases, I would strongly encourage all parties who use the industrial relations services of the State to respect the Recommendations made therein. However, the ultimate responsibility for the resolution of industrial disputes between employers and employees, rests with the employer, the employee, and their representatives.