In general, responsibility for issues relating to Government public procurement and State contracts resides with my colleague, Deputy Pascal Donohoe, Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure.
My role in relation to Sectoral Employment Orders (SEOs) is specifically prescribed under legislation the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2015. The construction sector SEO was the first Order made under this legislation and came into effect in October 2017.
The Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2015 provides for a new framework under which proposals for wage setting in particular sectors can be considered. The 2015 legislation was in response to the striking down on constitutional grounds of the previous regime of Registered Employment Agreements.
The 2015 Act allows for applications to be submitted to the Labour Court either separately or jointly by worker or employer bodies that are substantially representative in the sector concerned. In the case of the construction sector SEO, the application was made to the Labour Court by an employer body. The Court undertook its examination of the application in line with the legislation and this included a public consultation process with advertisements in the national print media seeking submissions to the application received by the Labour Court.
I would stress that it is open in this process for any interested party to make a submission to the Labour Court. Parties that make a submission to the Court are subsequently invited to a further oral hearing at the Labour Court. I understand that in the submissions made to the Labour Court, none of these contained any significant reference to the impact of the introduction of an SEO for the construction sector on State contracts already signed.
Following examination by the Labour Court of the application based on submissions received, the oral hearing and drawing on the Court's knowledge and expertise in considering industrial relations aspects of the SEO application, the Court submitted a recommendation to me in favour of making a Ministerial Order for the construction sector.
I have no function in the determination of the terms of the SEO which under legislation is a matter solely for the Labour Court. As Minister, my role under the legislation is to ensure that the Labour Court has undertaken the process for examination of an application in line with the criteria set down in the 2015 legislation including. On that basis, I can either accept or reject the Labour Court recommendation.
In the case of the construction SEO, I accepted the Labour Court recommendation and confirmed it by Ministerial Order which had to be approved in advance by both Houses of the Oireachtas. The terms of the Order that set out the new rates payable in the construction sector came into effect from 19 October 2017.
As Minister at the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation I am of course very conscious of the implications of wage increases on sectors of the economy. I am equally aware of the importance of maintaining industrial peace in sectors of the economy that are critical to the continued growth of our economy and are providing critical services.
