Government puts wage laws on hold until appeal judgment

Leo Varadkar

The High Court ruled recently that both the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2015 as well as a 2019 Sectoral Employment Order (SEO) for the electrical contracting sector were unconstitutional.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said that while the Government will appeal, it cannot and will not publish legislation until the appeal is heard.

He told the Dáil a Labour bill published by Louth TD Ged Nash was premature and an instance of “virtue signalling”.

“We need the courts to clarify this issue,” he said. “There is now a serious point of law to be considered as to whether sectoral employment orders such as these are permissible. Such orders have been struck down before. Legislation to reintroduce them was passed in 2015.

“They have now been struck down again. Our actions have been found to be unconstitutional. We do not agree with this judgment, which is why we are appealing it to the Supreme Court. It would not be possible, however, to bring in new legislation to set sectoral minima when the courts have found that we do not have the power to do so.

“There is a big difference between intent and sincerity on the one hand, and virtue signalling and critical messaging on the other. One is good and the other is phony.”

He added that workers are protected by the minimum wage and terms and conditions but that the removal of the SEO is “a real problem”.

Mr Nash, however, said Mr Varadkar’s comments were “poor form”.

“He clearly hasn’t read (the legislation), and has chosen not to understand its intention,” he said.