The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has welcomed confirmation from Government that it will legislate to ensure union rights in Ireland are brought into line with human rights standards across the European Union and urged that work begin on the issue "without further delay."
Speaking to a special session of the United Nations' Human Rights' Council in Geneva, Ireland's ambassador to the UN - Gerard Corr - confirmed that a commitment on collective bargaining rights in the Programme for Government will be honoured and Irish law made "consistent with recent judgements of the European Court of Human Rights."
Ireland's failure to do so was the subject of criticism at a previous session of the UN's Human Rights Council last October.
Congress Legal Affairs Officer Esther Lynch welcomed the renewed Government commitment and said: "Work should begin without delay to ensure that this commitment on basic union rights is fully and properly realised.
"Ireland is seriously out of line with most developed nations in our failure to fully uphold union rights and appreciate how central they are to human rights.
"We are happy to start discussions with the Government on this immediately and see no reason for further delay.
"We believe there is an urgent need to amend the law to protect workers who join unions from intimidation and victimisation by their employer," Ms Lynch said.
Ambassador Corr was speaking at the UN Human Rights Council as part of Ireland's participation in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a process whereby the human rights records of the United Nations' 192 Member States are reviewed and assessed every four years.
Congress made its own submission to the Human Rights Council as part of the UPR process and is a member of Your Rights Right Now, a coalition of 17 civil society organisations established to ensure that the voice of ordinary Irish people is heard and reported to the UN (www.rightsnow.ie).
