Richard Bruton
Ceist:35 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise and Employment the input, if any, she will be making into the discussions on trade union recognition; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13995/97]
Priority Questions. - Trade Union Recognition.
Partnership 2000 contains a commitment to establish a high-level group, representative of interested parties, to consider proposals by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions concerning trade union recognition. This group is currently being established under the auspices of the Department of the Taoiseach. I will be represented on the group through an official of my Department. I will seek to give every assistance in the group to the social partners in their endeavour to arrive at mutually acceptable solutions. The group will report to me by end of 1997.
Does the Minister have any views on this issue which she intends to communicate during the discussions on the desirability or otherwise of trade union recognition by statute?
Yes, I have such views and I will endeavour to ensure they are put forward to the high-level group by the officials of my Department who will represent me at its meetings. I will not be drawn on those views at present because anything I might say could pre-empt the findings of the high-level group. It is important that we work to ensure that the social partners can reach a mutually acceptable agreement on this issue. That is my desire.
This approach is at remarkable variance with the Minister's approach to a minimum wage, a topic on which she is happy to express her own views and proceed with her own approach before consultation with the social partners. She is not giving the House the benefit of her knowledge and views on this matter.
The Deputy is misrepresenting what I said. I did not say I was going to put forward views regarding how a national hourly minimum wage would be introduced without consultation with the social partners. I said there would be full and widespread consultation on this matter. Regarding recognition of trade unions, there was a commitment by the previous Government - of which the Deputy was a member — in Partnership 2000 to set up a high level group to consider proposals from the ICTU. I want to honour that commitment and establish that group which I hope will report to me by the end of 1997. It will also report to the monitoring committee under Partnership 2000. This is the appropriate manner for proceeding on this issue. The Deputy knows there are many difficulties in this area. Ireland has a very high trade union density with 48 per cent of the employee workforce belonging to trade unions. This compares with 10 per cent in France.
The trade union movement has played a significant role in the economy, particularly in recent years when our satisfactory state of industrial relations has been a major contributory factor to high economic growth. In fairness to the ICTU we should established the high level group, the terms of reference of which are currently being drawn up by the Department of the Taoiseach. We hope to have it in place very shortly and to have the report by the end of the year. We will act on the basis of what it recommends.