The Gazette 1992

GAZETTE

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1992

Strikes in essential services have in

recent times been problematic

which is a major flaw in this legis-

lation as was evidenced by the ESB

strike some months ago - Mr. Kerr

states that the proofs of the book

'were corrected largely by candle-

light'. A Voluntary Code of Practice

on disputes in essential services has

just been launched by the Minister

for Labour. The code was drawn up

by the Labour Relations Commis-

sion, an industrial relations body

established under the Act com-

prising both sides of industry.

This text is recommended to all

lawyers who are involved in acting

for trade unions, their members and

those who represent either party in

trade disputes. One looks forward

to the second edition already to see

what further interpretations there

may be on the 1990 Act and to

consider how successful it will

have been in the light of experience.

Frances Meenan

Guide to Employment

Legislation.

Federation of Irish Employers.

5th Edition. September, 1991.

pp 201 £25 . 00

As a body of law employment

legislation has grown dramatically,

particularly since the early 1970s.

Individual statutes interact and

overlap to a considerable degree in

addition to which our legislators

have regularly tacked on amend-

ments in a piecemeal fashion

making it extremely difficult to plot

a course through many of the

individual statutes and employment

legislation as a body.

Back in 1979, the Federation of Irish

Employers, or as it then was, the

Federated Union of Employers, first

produced a very useful guide to

employment legislation and recently

has published the fifth edition of

that guide. As well as adding legis-

lation not covered in previous

editions, the latest edition contains

somewhat more commentary than

previously with useful references to

relevant jurisprudence, albeit in very

general terms. While the book is not

written for lawyers it will be of con-

siderable use to lawyers seeking

easy reference to pa r t i cu l ar

statutory provisions. I am sure many

practitioners have, like me, little

areas of blanks in their minds where

particular items or details are

impossible to retain. As long as I

have been practising in the area of

employment law I cannot remember

the sliding scale of service related

notice entitlement in the Minimum

Notice and Terms of Employment

Act, 1973, hence the great value of

an easy to use reference work such

as this guide.

The Guide covers everything from

conditions of employment through

health and safety, and industrial

relations to such diverse statutes

relevant to employment law as the

Ju r i es Ac t, 1976, t he Data

Protection Act, 1988 and the

Companies Act, 1990 insofar as it

relates to contracts of service. For

a book of its size and modest

pretensions it also has an admirable

index. While we have had a very

welcome growth in the publication

of native Irish legal works in recent

years I have always found the

standard of indexation to be less

than impressive. Maybe I am alone

in this but I do not tend to read legal

text books from cover to cover but

rather to dip into them as I need to.

The contents and index sections

are therefore vital to the proper use

of any such publication and this

one is particularly well served in

that regard. While the cover of the

Guide is pleasing to the eye, the

printer or designer overlooked

printing the title on the spine. A

blank wh i te spine on one 's

bookshelf does not help in finding

this easy to use reference work

unless it happens to be the only

blank spine in view.

The Guide has improved w i th each

successive edition. While this

edition refers from time to time to

the current state of interpretation

of specific statutory provisions, it

does not refer to case law nor give

any assistance towards further

research. That is not the purpose of

the Guide and if it were to adopt a

practice of citing relevant case law,

it would probably become im-

practical for the publishers to keep

up to date given the modest

pretensions of the publication.

Nonetheless, it is an excellent guide

and will be of great assistance to

all practitioners for quick and easy

reference to the main provisions of

employment legislation in Ireland.

I have noticed other FIE publica-

tions appearing on the shelves of

legal booksellers but I have not

seen this one or its predecessors.

I have no doubt in time it will so

appear but in the meantime can be

obtained from the FIE office in

Dublin, contact

Audrey

Beas/ey

601011.

•

Gary Byrne

SYS Conference

(Continued from page 16)

Our thanks to our eminent speakers

and to our generous sponsors -

The Investment Bank of Ireland

L imi t ed (our ma in sponso r ),

Butterworths, Sweet & Maxwell

and

Doug l as

L l amb i as

and

Associates.

Copies of the lectures are available

from

Delphine Kelly

of A. & L.

Goodbody, Solicitors.

The next SYS conference is a joint

one w i th the Younger Members

Committee of the Law Society and

t he No r t he rn Ireland Young

Solicitors Group and will be held in

Newcastle, Co. Down from the 8th

to the 10th May, 1992. See p. 16

of this

Gazette

for details.

•

Jennifer

Blunden,

Public Relations Officer, SYS.

The Comprehensive Service

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