Industrial Relations Act, 1946

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Citation: IR No. 26/1946

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Number 26 of 1946

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INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT 1946

REVISED

Updated to 15 September 2022

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This Revised Act is an administrative consolidation of the Industrial Relations Act 1946. It is prepared by the Law Reform Commission in accordance with its function under the Law Reform Commission Act 1975 (3/1975) to keep the law under review and to undertake revision and consolidation of statute law.

All Acts up to and including the Higher Education Authority Act 2022 (31/2022), enacted 12 October 2022, and all statutory instruments up to and including the Employment Regulation Order (Early Years' Service No. 2 Joint Labour Committee) 2022 (S.I. No. 458 of 2022), made 14 September 2022, were considered in the preparation of this Revised Act.

Disclaimer: While every care has been taken in the preparation of this Revised Act, the Law Reform Commission can assume noÁresponsibility for and give no guarantees, undertakings or warranties concerning the accuracy, completeness or up to date nature of the information provided and does not accept any liability whatsoever arising from any errors or omissions. Please notify any errors, omissions and comments by email to

revisedacts@lawreform.ie.

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Number 26 of 1946

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INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT 1946

REVISED

Updated to 15 September 2022

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Introduction

This Revised Act presents the text of the Act as it has been amended since enactment, and preserves the format in which it was passed.

Related legislation

Industrial Relations Acts 1946 to 2019: this Act is one of a group of Acts included in this collective citation to be construed together as one (Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2019, s. 5(2)). The Acts in the group are:

• Industrial Relations Act 1946 (26/1946)

• Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 1955 (19/1955) (repealed)

• Industrial Relations Act 1969 (14/1969)

• Industrial Relations Act 1976 (15/1976)

• Industrial Relations Act 1990 (19/1990), other than Part II (ss. 8-22)

• Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2001 (11/2001)

• Industrial Relations (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2004 (4/2004), in so far as it relates to the Industrial Relations Acts 1946 to 2001

• Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2012 (32/2012), other than ss. 16, 17 and 18

• Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2015 (27/2015), other than ss. 24 and 36 (collectively cited Industrial Relations Acts 1946 to 2015 and Part 3, other than s. 36, to be construed as one)

• Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2019 (21/2019)

Annotations

This Revised Act is annotated and includes textual and non-textual amendments, statutory instruments made pursuant to the Act and previous affecting provisions.

An explanation of how to read annotations is available at

www.lawreform.ie/annotations.

Material not updated in this revision

Where other legislation is amended by this Act, those amendments may have been superseded by other amendments in other legislation, or the amended legislation may have been repealed or revoked. This information is not represented in this revision but will be reflected in a revision of the amended legislation if one is available.

Where legislation or a fragment of legislation is referred to in annotations, changes to this legislation or fragment may not be reflected in this revision but will be reflected in a revision of the legislation referred to if one is available.

A list of legislative changes to any Act, and to statutory instruments from 1972, may be found linked from the page of the Act or statutory instrument at

www.irishstatutebook.ie.

Acts which affect or previously affected this revision:

• Workplace Relations (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2021 (29/2021)

• Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2019 (21/2019)

• Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2015 (27/2015)

• National Minimum Wage (Low Pay Commission) Act 2015 (22/2015)

• Workplace Relations Act 2015 (16/2015)

• Freedom of Information Act 2014 (30/2014)

• Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2012 (32/2012)

• Fines Act 2010 (8/2010)

• Arbitration Act 2010 (1/2010)

• Protection of Employment (Exceptional Collective Redundancies and Related Matters) Act 2007 (27/2007)

• Industrial Relations (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2004 (4/2004)

• Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2001 (11/2001)

• National Minimum Wage Act 2000 (5/2000)

• Employment Equality Act 1998 (21/1998)

• Freedom of Information Act 1997 (13/1997)

• Unfair Dismissals (Amendment) Act 1993 (22/1993)

• Industrial Relations Act 1990 (19/1990)

• Pensions Act 1990 (25/1990)

• Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 (10/1977)

• Employment Equality Act 1977 (16/1977)

• Industrial Relations Act 1976 (15/1976)

• Regulation of Banks (Remuneration and Conditions of Employment) (Temporary Provisions) Act 1975 (27/1975)

• Anti-Discrimination (Pay) Act 1974 (15/1974)

• Industrial Relations Act 1969 (14/1969)

• Industrial Training Act 1967 (5/1967)

• Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 1955 (19/1955)

All Acts up to and including Higher Education Authority Act 2022 (31/2022), enacted 12 October 2022, were considered in the preparation of this revision.

Statutory Instruments which affect or previously affected this revision:

• Employment Regulation Order (Early Years' Service No. 2 Joint Labour Committee) 2022 (S.I. No. 458 of 2022)

• Employment Regulation Order (Early Years' Service No. 1 Joint Labour Committee) 2022 (S.I. No. 457 of 2022)

• Employment Regulation Order (Contract Cleaning Industry Joint Labour Committee) 2022 (S.I. No. 110 of 2022)

• Early Years' Service Joint Labour Committee Establishment Order 2021 (S.I. No. 292 of 2021)

• Employment Regulation (Amendment) Order (Contract Cleaning Joint Labour Committee) 2020 (S.I. No. 608 of 2020)

• English Language Schools Joint Labour Committee Establishment Order 2020 (S.I. No. 42 of 2020)

• Registered Employment Agreement (Veterinary Ireland) Order 2019 (S.I. No. 662 of 2019)

• Registered Employment Agreement (Freshways Food Company) Order 2019 (S.I. No. 661 of 2019)

• Registered Employment Agreement (Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann) Order 2019 (S.I. No. 650 of 2019)

• Employment Regulation Order (English Language Schools Joint Labour Committee Establishment Order) 2019 (S.I. No. 593 of 2019)

• Catering Joint Labour Committee Establishment Order 2018 (S.I. No. 591 of 2018)

• Catering Joint Labour Committee and Catering Joint Labour Committee (County Borough of Dublin and the Borough of Dun Laoghaire) (Abolition) Order 2018 (S.I. No. 590 of 2018)

• Employment Regulation Order (Security Industry Joint Labour Committee) 2017 (S.I. No. 231 of 2017)

• Employment Regulation (Amendment) Order (Contract Cleaning Joint Labour Committee) 2016 (S.I. No. 548 of 2016)

• European Union (Posting of Workers) Regulations 2016 (S.I. No. 412 of 2016)

• Employment Regulation Order (Contract Cleaning Joint Labour Committee) 2015 (S.I. No. 418 of 2015)

• Employment Regulation Order (Security Industry Joint Labour Committee) 2015 (S.I. No. 417 of 2015)

• Security Industry Joint Labour Committee Establishment (Amendment) Order 2014 (S.I. No. 30 of 2014)

• Law Clerks Joint Labour Committee (Abolition) Order 2014 (S.I. No. 29 of 2014)

• Hotels Joint Labour Committee Establishment (Amendment) Order 2014 (S.I. No. 28 of 2014)

• Hotels Joint Labour Committee (for the areas known, until 1st January, 1994, as the County Borough of Dublin and the Borough of Dun Laoghaire) (Abolition) Order 2014 (S.I. No. 27 of 2014)

• Hairdressing Joint Labour Committee Establishment (Amendment) Order 2014 (S.I. No. 26 of 2014)

• Contract Cleaning Joint Labour Committee Establishment (Amendment) Order 2014 (S.I. No. 25 of 2014)

• Provender Milling Joint Labour Committee (Abolition) Order 2012 (S.I. No. 391 of 2012)

• Clothing Joint Labour Committee (Abolition) Order 2012 (S.I. No. 390 of 2012)

• Aerated Waters and Wholesale Bottling Joint Labour Committee (Abolition) Order 2012 (S.I. No. 389 of 2012)

• Finance (Transfer of Departmental Administration and Ministerial Functions) Order 2011 (S.I. No. 418 of 2011)

• Employment Regulation Order (Retail Grocery and Allied Trades Joint Labour Committee) 2011 (S.I. No. 213 of 2011)

• Employment Regulation Order (Agricultural Workers Joint Labour Committee) 2010 (S.I. No. 164 of 2010)

• Employment Regulation Order (Agricultural Workers Joint Labour Committee) 2010 (S.I. No. 602 of 2010)

• Employment Regulation Order (Retail Grocery and Allied Trades Joint Labour Committee) 2010 (S.I. No. 448 of 2010)

• Employment Regulation Order (Retail Grocery and Allied Trades Joint Labour Committee) 2009 (S.I. No. 374 of 2009)

• Employment Regulation Order (Hotels Joint Labour Committee) 2009 (S.I. No. 359 of 2009)

• Employment Regulation Order [Catering Joint Labour Committee (for the areas known until 1st January, 1994 as the County Borough of Dublin and the Borough of Dun Laoghaire)] 2009 (S.I. No. 224 of 2009)

• Employment Regulation Order [Catering Joint Labour Committee (for the areas other than the areas known until 1st January, 1994 as the County Borough of Dublin and the Borough of Dun Laoghaire)] 2009 (S.I. No. 217 of 2009)

• Employment Regulation Order (Law Clerks Joint Labour Committee) 2009 (S.I. No. 215 of 2009)

• Hairdressing Joint Labour Committee Establishment Order 2009 (S.I. No. 45 of 2009)

• Hairdressing Joint Labour Committee (Abolition) Order 2009 (S.I. No. 44 of 2009)

• Hairdressing (Cork County Borough) Joint Labour Committee (Abolition) Order 2009 (S.I. No. 43 of 2009)

• Womens Clothing and Millinery Joint Labour Committee (Abolition) Order 2008 (S.I. No. 333 of 2008)

• Tailoring Joint Labour Committee (Abolition) Order 2008 (S.I. No. 332 of 2008)

• Shirtmaking Joint Labour Committee (Abolition) Order 2008...