The Industrial Relations Act, 1946

Abstract

The Industrial Relations Act, which was introduced and enacted last year with the general approval of both employers' and workers' organizations and of all parties in the Oireachtas, is not a very lengthy measure, but it is very comprehensive and it makes some important changes in the role of the State in industrial relations in this country. I shall try in this paper to give a brief exposition of the provisions of the Act and then to make some comparisons between our new legislation and practice and those of certain other countries. I shall not try to discuss every detail of the Act; in particular, I shall not deal at all with Part VII of the Act, which is transitional and temporary and could not be treated at all adequately here without risking a distortion of the general picture. It will, of course, be understood that I am not speaking as Chairman of the Labour Court and do not profess to give an official or authoritative interpretation of the intentions or effect of the Act.