Industrial relations act, 1976

• Act Number: 15
• Enactment Date: 18 May 1976

Number 15 of 1976
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT, 1976
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
Section 1. Definitions. 2. Amendment of section 4 of Principal Act. 3. Consequential repeal. 4. Establishment of joint labour committee for agricultural workers. 5. Modification of Second Schedule to Principal Act. 6. Repeal of Agricultural Wages Acts, 1936 to 1969. 7. Modification of section 49 of Principal Act. 8. Additional divisions of the Court. 9. Consequential amendment of section 2 of Act of 1969. 10. Amendment of section 5 of Act of 1969. 11. Repeal of Agricultural Workers (Holidays) Acts, 1950 to 1975. 12. Short title, construction and collective citation.
Acts Referred to Agricultural Wages Act, 1936 1936, No. 53 Industrial Relations Act, 1946 1946, No. 26 Industrial Relations Act, 1969 1969, No. 14
Number 15 of 1976
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT, 1976
AN ACT TO AMEND AND EXTEND THE INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACTS, 1946 AND 1969, TO REPEAL THE AGRICULTURAL WAGES ACTS, 1936 TO 1969, AND THE AGRICULTURAL WORKERS (HOLIDAYS) ACTS, 1950 TO 1975, AND TO PROVIDE FOR OTHER MATTERS CONNECTED WITH THE AFORESAID MATTERS. [18th May, 1976]
BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:
	Definitions.	1.—In this Act—
	“the Act of 1969” means the Industrial Relations Act, 1969 ;
	“agricultural employer” means a person who employs other persons as agricultural workers;
	“agricultural worker” means a person employed under a contract of service or apprenticeship whose work under the contract is or includes work in agriculture, but does not include a person whose work under any such contract is mainly domestic service;
	“agriculture” includes horticulture, the production of any consumable produce which is grown for sale or for consumption or other use, dairy farming, poultry farming, the use of land as grazing, meadow or pasture land or orchard or osier land or woodland, or for market gardens, private gardens, nursery grounds or sports grounds, the caring for or the rearing or training of animals and any other incidental activities connected with agriculture;
	“the Court” means the Labour Court;
	“the Minister” means the Minister for Labour;
	“the Principal Act” means the Industrial Relations Act, 1946 .
	Amendment of section 4 of Principal Act.	2.—Section 4 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (1):
	“(1) In this Act ‘worker’ means any person aged 15 years or more who has entered into or works under a contract with an employer, whether the contract be for manual labour, clerical work or otherwise, whether it be expressed or implied, oral or in writing, and whether it be a contract of service or of apprenticeship or a contract personally to execute any work or labour but does not include—
	(a) a person who is employed by or under the State,
	(b) a teacher in a secondary school,
	(c) a teacher in a national school,
	(d) an officer of a local authority,
	(e) an officer of a vocational education committee,
	(f) an officer of a committee of agriculture, or
	(g) an officer of a school attendance committee.”.
	Consequential repeal.	3.—Section 66 of the Principal Act, which defines “worker” for the purposes of Part VI of that Act, is hereby repealed.
	Establishment of joint labour committee for agricultural workers.	4.—(1) As soon as practicable after the passing of this Act the Court shall by order establish a joint labour committee to perform, in relation to agricultural workers and their employers, the functions assigned to it by Part IV of the Principal Act.
	(2) Sections 35 to 40 of the Principal Act shall not apply to the joint labour committee established under this section but that committee shall, subject to section 5 of this Act, be deemed to be a joint labour committee within the meaning of section 34 of the Principal Act.
	Modification of Second Schedule to Principal Act.	5.—The Second Schedule to the Principal Act (which relates to the constitution, officers and proceedings of joint labour committees), shall apply to the joint labour committee established under section 4 of this Act subject to the following modifications:
	(a) the chairman and not more than two independent members of the committee shall be appointed by the Minister with the consent of the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries;
	(b) the representative (employers) members of the committee shall be appointed by the Court from a panel prepared and presented to the Court by the Minister after consultation with...