asked the Minister for Labour the plans, if any, he has to abolish or alter the role of the Employment Appeals Tribunal; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Employment Appeals Tribunal.
8.
I have no plans to abolish the Employment Appeals Tribunal which heard nearly 7,000 cases last year. The tribunal continue to have a key role to play in the national industrial relations scene. There is clear evidence that the work of the tribunal has been instrumental in reducing the incidence of strikes on dismissal issues.
In my view the tribunal has, by and large, worked well. However, the Unfair Dismissals Act is now ten years on the Statute Book and a review seems timely. In this context, I will be publishing shortly a discussion document which will examine the present arrangements and which will allow interested parties to submit their views.
I would hope that the debate prompted by the discussion document will lead to a consensus on improvements which might be made to the legislation and to the workings of the tribunal.
May I take it from that reply that the chairman, vice-chairman and members of the tribunal enjoy the Minister's confidence? If I am right in thinking that, may I ask why a Government spokesman has been briefing members of the press to the effect that the chairman and vice-chairman were called in and given a stern dressing-down by the Minister for Labour because of the eccentricity of some of their decisions? Is the Minister aware that the Government press spokesman assembled a group of journalists and said: "You know that the Minister for Labour, Bertie Ahern, can be a tough man"— and he thumped the table —"with that crowd"? Will the Minister reply to that question?
The Minister has confirmed that it is not his intention to abolish the tribunal and I should like to know if he has any firm plans to alter in any way the operations of the tribunal? I appreciate, as he said, that the Unfair Dismissals Act will be reviewed but I should like to know if there are any plans to alter the way the tribunal operates. The Minister will be aware of the concern about the heavy legalistic way the tribunal operates.
The Department are concerned about some of the workings of the tribunal and the chairman has put forward some suggestions. The discussion document I referred to will be issued, I hope, next week and interested parties will present submissions on it. A number of submissions have been submitted to the Department. One area of concern is that the tribunal has become too legalistic which was not the original intention. I should like to tell Deputy Birmingham that I do not know anything about the events he referred to. I had a meeting with the chairman and perhaps he may have thought, arising out of what I said, that I intended to go further than I intend. I was referring to a discussion document and there may have been a misinterpretation about how I emphasised legalistic bodies and other ways adopted. I am not sure who went to the newspapers after the meeting but I made my views clear. I should like to repeat that I do not have any intention of abolishing the organisation but I would like to see some radical changes and improvements taking place.
We must move on to deal with the priority questions.
With the permission of the Chair I should like to raise on the Adjournment the damage caused by the extensive rainfall in Donegal to homes, businesses and farms and the urgent need for immediate compensation.
I will communicate with the Deputy.