Michael Doherty

It must have been love ... but it’s over now: the crisis and collapse of social partnership in Ireland:

This article examines the key factors behind the collapse of the Irish social partnership process in 2010 and looks at some of the broader implications that can be drawn. It categorizes the partnership process as being driven by extreme pragmatism, rather than ideological conviction, on the part of the main actors and looks at how the shifting positions of the state, labour and capital, as well as the focus on processes over outcomes, led to the demise of the much-admired Irish model. Cet article examine les principaux facteurs sous-jacents à l’effondrement du processus de partenariat social en Irlande en 2010 et analyse certaines conséquences de grande ampleur qui en résultent. Il considère que ce processus de partenariat a été guidé principalement par un pragmatisme extrême — plutôt que par une conviction idéologique — des principaux acteurs. L’article se penche également sur les positions changeantes de l’Etat, des syndicats et du patronat, de même que sur l’importance accordée aux processus au détriment des résultats, qui ont conduit à la disparition du modèle irlandais si longtemps cité en exemple. In diesem Artikel werden die Schlüsselfaktoren für den Zusammenbruch des Sozialpartnerschaftsprozesses in Irland 2010 untersucht und einige allgemeine Auswirkungen näher betrachtet. Die Sozialpartnerschaft wird als ein von äußerstem Pragmatismus und nicht von ideologischer Überzeugung der Hauptakteure geprägter Prozess kategorisiert, und es wird untersucht, wie die veränderten Positionen von Staat, Arbeit und Kapital sowie die Verlagerung des Fokus von Ergebnissen auf Prozesse zum Aus für das viel bewunderte irische Modell geführt haben.

Hard law, soft edge? Information, consultation and partnership

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess whether the transposition of the EU directive on informing and consulting employees is likely to enhance voice and participation rights of Irish employees.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is a literature based critique assessing the reasons for the “voice gaps” the evidence suggests exist in Irish workplaces and analysing the implications of the legal changes brought in by the information and consultation legislation.Findings – The paper argues that the transposition of the EU directive provided a unique opportunity to bolster voice mechanisms in Irish workplaces and “plug” some of the gaps identified in the literature. However, the paper argues this opportunity has been largely squandered, as a result of the Irish Goversments minimalist approach to “hard” regulation of information and consultation rights in the transposing legislation.Research limitations/implications – The EU directive is perhaps of most relevance to those interested in the employ...

Mind the Gap: National and Local Partnership in the Irish Public Sector

This article uses case study data from a major Irish city council to investigate and explain public sector worker attitudes towards social partnership at local and national level. It is argued that the more sceptical attitudes to workplace partnership reflect structural differences between local and national arrangements, which have enabled public sector employers to use ‘social partnership’ as a constraint in the implementation process of a pre-determined public sector reform agenda.

Through the Looking Glass: Brexit, Free Movement and the Future

This article looks at some of the implications of Brexit for free movement of persons within the European Union, for both UK citizens and those from other EU Member States. It begins by briefly outlining the principle of free movement of persons, one of the four ‘fundamental freedoms’ set out in the EU Treaties since the Unions foundation. The next section looks at the reasons why free movement of persons became such a fundamental issue in the UK referendum on EU membership, focusing on the issues of jobs, labour standards and welfare. The article goes on to consider possible alternatives for the UKs relationship with the EU, post-Brexit, in terms of free movement of person rights. In the concluding section, the article considers the future of free movement of person rights within the EU itself.

There must be some way out of here: : the crisis, labour rights and member states in the eye of the storm

This paper considers the impact of the economic, social and political crisis on the labour law regimes of two of the Member States of the European Union most affected; Greece and Ireland. Both countries have been the recipients of ‘bail-out’ deals, negotiated and monitored by what has become known as the ‘Troika’ of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The article considers the extent to which both countries have been required to make amendments to their labour law regimes, as a condition of their bail-outs. It argues that the changes demanded reflect the basic norm now governing the EU legal order, namely that of ‘competition’; the logic of market integration based on the primacy of economic competition. This is the pre-peer reviewed version of a paper accepted for forthcoming publication in the European Law Journal. Full citation details will follow when available.

Emergency Exit? Collective Bargaining, the ILO and Irish Law

This article analyses a recent complaint pronounced upon by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) relating to collective bargaining rights under Irish law. The article analyses the manner in which the ILO dealt with the complaint and the response of the Irish State. However, the article argues that there are lessons to be drawn from this case of wider significance. In particular, the article considers the role of collective bargaining in the ‘Anglo’ model of industrial relations; the influence of the judiciary in interpreting and protecting collective labour rights; the influence of global multinational corporations on labour law and practice; and the effect of the EU institutions on labour rights in the context of the current crisis.

Whistleblowing: National Report for Ireland

The subject of whistleblowing has become one of very great significance in Irish employment law in recent years, a significance that is now reflected in the Protected Disclosures Act 2014 (hereafter referred to in this Report as the “2014 Act”), which came into force in Ireland in the summer of 2014. This new regime provides comprehensive protection for whistleblowers across all sectors of the economy, replacing what had hitherto been a piecemeal, sector-specific patchwork of protections that left significant lacunae in the legal regime. Accordingly, this Report offers analysis of the new legislative regime in Irish law and its implications for the development of an entirely new whistleblowing regime in this jurisdiction.

Back to the Future of EU Labour Law?: A Review of Marc Rigaux, Jan Buelens and Amanda Latinne, From Labour Law to Social Competition Law?

In the prologue to From Labour Law to Social Competition Law?,1 Marc Rigaux prudently begins by pointing to the dangers of expressing oneself on the future of labour law, which is in seemingly perpetual crisis and flux. Happily, the contributors are not cowed by the challenge of gazing into the future, and what follows is a wide-ranging exploration of a series of interrelated themes focusing on the legal, and extra-legal, processes and phenomena that shape the essential functions of labour law. The collection develops four themes, and aspects of each will be explored in this article.