Vol. 495 No. 7
577 Mr. Gregory asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands the reason for the suspension of gardening staff in the Botanic Gardens, Dublin 9; if she will intervene in the dispute; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21370/98]
Craft gardeners in the Botanic Gardens were suspended from duty, arising from their refusal to co-operate with training programmes for Teagasc horticultural trainees and in response their union has taken strike action.
It has been a traditional aspect of the gardeners duties to co-operate with practical training assessments for Teagasc horticultural trainees. When Teagasc sought to revise the format of these assessments, the gardeners reactivated an earlier claim for a universal upgrading, which had been rejected by the Labour Court in 1992. The claim was again rejected by the Labour Court in 1996. Since then my Department has made extensive efforts to reach an accommodation with the gardeners but unfortunately all such approaches have been rejected. While my Department is, of course, anxious that this dispute be resolved at the earliest possible date I can see no useful purpose in my personal intervention in the dispute.
