Sustaining Progress - Department of Taoiseach

Further Development of Employee Representation
8.8 It is agreed by the trade union and employer organisations that there is a need to enhance the
effectiveness of the procedures put in place in the Code of Practice on Dispute Resolution and the
Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act, 2001.
8.9 The following measures have been agreed for this purpose:
■ the introduction of an indicative overall time-frame targeting 26 weeks - with provision for up to a
maximum of 34 weeks where necessary - for the processing of cases under the Dispute Resolution
Code and Act to the point of issuance of a determination, save when an extension is agreed by the
parties;
■ the amendment of Section 2 of the Act to provide that engagement by the Court could now take
place on the basis of a breach of the time-frames within the Code, the exhaustion of the timeframes
or the indication at any time by the Labour Relations Commission that it is unable to assist
the parties. These provisions would be substituted for the existing Section 2(1)(b), while
preserving the remainder of the Section;
■ the amendment of Section 3 so as to allow the Court to combine both the preliminary and
substantive hearings, where it considers this to be appropriate;
■ the removal of the provision in the Act for the Labour Court to review a determination, prior to
seeking enforcement of a determination by the Circuit Court, by deleting section 9 and amending
section 10 to provide for an entitlement for the trade union or excepted body to apply to the
Circuit Court for the enforcement of a determination immediately - or on expiry of whatever
implementation period is provided for in the determination;
■ the introduction of a new Code setting out the different types of practice which would constitute
victimisation arising from an employee’s membership or activity on behalf of a trade union
or a manager discharging his or her managerial functions, or other employees, drawing, as
appropriate, for consideration, on relevant definitions in existing Codes and legislation and best
practice;
■ the amendment of the Act to provide that the Labour Court should have regard to breaches of
the Anti-Victimisation Code and where appropriate should provide for redress in making its
determinations; and
■ transitional provisions will be developed to allow for the processing of cases in current disputes
where access to the Code of Practice on Dispute Resolution as at the date of agreement is not
available.
8.10 The Government undertakes to resource the Labour Relations Commission and Labour Court so as
to enable them to process claims in a timely manner. The timeliness with which claims under this
section of the Agreement are processed will be reviewed on an ongoing basis in consultation with
the parties.
Part 2 Pay and the Workplace
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