Martin says he will deliver industrial relations Bill

MINISTER FOR Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin insisted that proposed Government industrial relations legislation will be introduced before the next general election.

He was replying to Labour’s Ruairí Quinn who asked about the progress of the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill.

Mr Martin said that the Bill involved fundamental issues and he was involved in detailed consideration of the legislation with Minister of State Billy Kelleher.

“I do not accept that the Bill will not be ready before the election. I expect we will be in a position to progress it once the Nera Bill, which is the employment compliance Bill, is passed.”

Asked by Mr Quinn about the Company Law Consolidation and Reform Bill, Mr Martin said that it contained 1,263 heads which had been approved by Government. It was not possible to give a date now as to when the Bill would be ready.

Mr Quinn said a Bill with 1,200 sections was not a normal Bill. “It is simply beyond the capacity of the parliamentary counsel to produce it,” he said.

“If the staff of the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel is to employ their skills on a 1,200 section Bill, no other legislation will be produced with the existing resources.”

Mr Quinn suggested the Minister might consider an alternative venue for preparing the legislation: “The Minister might examine the way in which the Finance Consolidation Bill was produced . . . it was outsourced through the Revenue Commissioners”.

Mr Martin said that he had already been in discussions with the parliamentary counsel, the Attorney General’s office and so forth.

“We have given ourselves a 12- to 18-month timeframe, which is challenging and ambitious, to draft this Bill, but there is a determination and prioritisation to deal with it in my department.”