The regarding of the rank of secretary was on foot of a recommendation by an independent consultancy study of the administrative procedures in the Employment Appeals Tribunal, secretariat and was part of a package of measures introduced to improve the service provided by the tribunal. Developments of late in so far as the Employment Tribunal is concerned have been an increase in the number of tribunal members, a substantial increase in the staff of the secretariat and information technology improvements. The changes have enabled the tribunal to perform its statutory functions more efficiently and to provide a better service generally. The waiting period for cases to come to hearing before the tribunal has been considerably reduced. For example, the waiting period in Dublin is now two to three months compared to six months in 1996. In the rest of the country the waiting period has also substantially reduced.