Submission on Forum Consolidation

The observations made in this submission are very much by way of preliminary remarks on a complex subject. It is perhaps no secret that since the passing of the Redundancy Payments Act in 1967 and the setting up of the Redundancy Appeals Tribunal (later renamed the Employment Appeals Tribunal), the manner in which methods and forums of complaint under employment rights legislation has developed has been relatively haphazard, with no clear evidence of any systematic approach on the part of successive administrations.

The pressure of transposing a stream of employment related directives due to Ireland's membership of the EEC/EC/EU may have contributed to this. Nevertheless, we believe that a review of this system is long overdue and welcome the opportunity to contribute to this process.