Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 July 2018
1232. Deputy Maurice Quinlivan asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the number of cases waiting for a hearing and waiting for a decision by number of months waiting at the Labour Court in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33591/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Labour Court is an independent statutory office under the aegis of my Department. While the Court was established under the Industrial Relations Act, 1946, its functions have been altered and extended by subsequent legislation, including, most recently, the Workplace Relations Act 2015. Under the 2015 Act, the Labour Court assumed the role of sole appellate body in disputes under employment rights legislation.
In total, the Court currently has 180 cases waiting for a hearing date. The longest time lag between any current case being ready for scheduling* and being scheduled is currently 10 weeks. There are currently 12 cases ready for scheduling and awaiting a hearing date in the Dublin region and 13 cases outside of Dublin.
For operational reasons the Court will usually have a small number of cases to be scheduled at any given time. In assigning hearing dates the Court usually programmes two months ahead in order to ensure maximum flexibility in responding to postponements, withdrawals, urgent requests for hearings and in order to make best planned use of the resources available to the Court.
In some instances cases are placed on hold by the Court in the interest of resolution of the matter in dispute. There are 25 such cases currently.
The following table provides the information sought by the deputy:
|
- |
Amount |
|
Ready for scheduling and awaiting a hearing date |
25 |
|
Cases received by Labour Court but submissions and/or other documentation awaited from the parties before a hearing can be scheduled |
130 |
|
Cases on hold by reason of a decision of the Court |
25 |
|
Number of cases where hearings have been held and where decisions are awaited** |
5 |
*Ready for scheduling means that all appropriate submissions and other documents have been received from the parties such that a hearing can be arranged for the case in question.
** No case is awaiting decision after hearing longer than 9 weeks currently.
