Vol. 409 No. 3
8 Mr. Finucane asked the Minister for Energy whether he will be in a position to announce what new industrial relations structures will be in place in the ESB before the Dáil summer recess; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
9 Mr. Deenihan asked the Minister for Energy whether he is in a position to announce that new industrial relations structures will be in place in the ESB before the Dáil summer recess; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
26 Miss Flaherty asked the Minister for Energy whether he is in a position to announce that new industrial relations structures will be in place in the ESB before the Dáil summer recess; and if he will make a statement on the matter
It is proposed to take Questions Nos. 8, 9 and 26 together. The principal response to problems of disputes in essential services like the recent ESB strike is the development of a code of practice by the Labour Relations Commission in consultation with the employer and employee bodies. I understand that this will be presented to the Minister for Labour within two months. As well as contributing to the development of this code of practice, the ESB are carrying out a joint management-union review of labour relationships in the organisation with the assistance of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the services of independent experts of international repute.
Is the Minister taking a direct interest in this matter?
It is a matter for the Minister for Labour to deal with the question of industrial relations.
It is getting more and more difficult to pin the Minister down to responsibilities for certain areas. As soon as we ask a specific question responsibility is shifted to another Minister. Surely the Minister must take an interest in this matter in that he deals with the ESB on a day to day basis and should have a useful input into this. For example, is the Minister involved in any way in an early warning system or in ensuring that when internal mechanisms for solving disputes are exhausted what happened recently will not happen again, that there will not be recourse to a strike? There should be a requirement in the internal code of practice that they avail of the State system to try to resolve these problems.
The Deputy is injecting extraneous matter into this question.
The Deputy has chosen to ask me questions about industrial relations. If this House decided some years ago to establish a Department of Labour with a Minister with special responsibility for those matters, it is unfair of the Deputy to suggest if I am not giving her an answer that there is something wrong in that approach. That has been a long standing approach here. Of course, as a member of the Government I participate in discussions with my colleague, the Minister for Labour, in regard to industrial relations matters and particularly in regard to semi-State bodies who come under my responsibility, such as the ESB. There is a need now to develop a code of practice which will hopefully deal with the type of situation that resulted in the ESB strike some time ago and which had such a terrible effect on everybody. The Minister for Labour has taken an initiative in this matter and is fully supported by all members of the Government.
