Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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111. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of cases brought to the District Court by workers seeking enforcement of a Workplace Relations Commission's awards, under Section 43 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015, in the past five years; and whether he has considered granting enforcement powers to the WRC in order to spare workers from having to take further legal action to reclaim its awards. [31303/25]

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) is an independent, statutory body under the aegis of my Department. The WRC’s primary functions include the inspection of employment law compliance, the provision of information on employment law, mediation, adjudication, conciliation, facilitation, and advisory services. The WRC is independent in the exercise of its quasi-judicial function, and I have no direct involvement in its day-to-day operations.

The Workplace Relations Act 2015 currently provides under section 43 as follows (1) If an employer in proceedings in relation to a complaint or dispute referred to an adjudication officer under section 41 fails to carry out the decision of the adjudication officer under that section in relation to the complaint or dispute in accordance with its terms before the expiration of 56 days from the date on which the notice in writing of the decision was given to the parties, the District Court shall— (a) on application to it in that behalf by the employee concerned or the WRC, or (b) on application to it in that behalf, with the consent of the employee, by any trade union or excepted body of which the employee is a member, without hearing any evidence (other than in relation to the matters aforesaid) make an order directing the employer to carry out the decision in accordance with its terms.

I consider the provisions as provided in the 2015 Act are sufficient and there are currently no plans to supplement them.

I am informed that since January 2020 78 cases were referred to WRC Solicitors to seek a court order. In 18 of these cases, the award was paid (14 before the Order was granted and 4 after). 7 cases resulted in prosecution for non-payment and 47 cases are currently ongoing. In 6 cases it was not possible to proceed with actions.