42. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment if he will intervene in a dispute (details supplied); and if he will urge the board of management of the credit union to attend the WRC to try and resolve the dispute. [67273/26]

As the Deputy will appreciate, it would not be appropriate for me, in my role as Minister, to intervene in individual employment disputes.

Ireland's system of industrial relations is essentially voluntary in nature and responsibility for the resolution of industrial disputes between employers and employees rests, in the first instance, with the employer, the employees and their representatives. The State's role is to provide industrial relations dispute resolution mechanisms to assist parties in their efforts to resolve such disputes. The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), which operates independently under the aegis of my Department, provides a range of services, including conciliation, mediation and adjudication services, to assist parties in resolving workplace disputes.

While I would encourage all parties to engage constructively with the industrial relations mechanisms available through the State, including the services of the WRC, the parties themselves are best placed to work together to identify a mutually acceptable resolution. The State remains committed to supporting employers and employees through the independent industrial relations frameworks, and the WRC in particular, provided for this purpose.