Introduction

• Author: Frances Meenan
• Pages: 5-6

5

1Introduction

1.1Basic structure of the national legal system

Irish law consists of a written Constitution.1 The Government in Ireland is divided between

a legislature, executive and judiciary. The national legislature (the Oireachtas) comprises

the President of Ireland and two houses, namely the upper chamber Seanad Éireann and

the lower house Dáil Éireann. The judicial system2 comprises courts of first instance and

courts of appeal. The courts of first instance comprise the High Court, the Circuit Court

and the District Court. There is also the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court (which in

the main deals with constitutional cases and matters of public importance). There are also

criminal courts to include the Central Criminal Court and a Special Criminal Court.

Most employment and equality disputes are dealt with by adjudication bodies specifically

legislated to determine employment and equality disputes. Commencing 1 October 2015,

all employment and equality claims are heard by an adjudication officer of the Workplace

Relations Commission. Decisions of an adjudication officer may be appealed to the Labour

Court and may be appealed on a point of law only to the High Court.3

Sources of Irish law comprise EU law, constitutional law, legislation and the common law.

Throughout the text there is reference to the various adjudication bodies. For clarification,

for claims initiated on or after 1 October 2015, claims are made to the Director General of

the Workplace Relations Commission4who then delegates the hearing of the claim to an

adjudication officer whose decision may be appealed to the Labour Court. For claims

initiated prior to 1 October 2015, claims were referred to the Director of the Equality

Tribunal who delegated the investigation thereof to an equality officer whose decision may

have been appealed to the Labour Court; in dismissal cases, reference may have been

made to a rights commissioner or to the Employment Appeals Tribunal.

1.2List of main legislation transposing and implementing the directives

All Acts from 1922-2019 and statutory instruments (from 1922-2019) are available on

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/.5

Consolidated employment legislation is available on www.westlaw.ie/, a commercial

service.

-The Employment Equality Act 1998 (in effect 18 October 1998) as amended by the

Equality Act 2004 (in effect 18 July 2004), the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions)

Act 2008, the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act

2010, the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2011, and the Equality

(Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2015 (the Employment Equality Acts 1998 to 2015);

-The Equal Status Act 2000 (in effect 25 October 2000), as amended by the

Intoxicating Liquor Act 2003, the Equality Act 2004 (in effect 18 July 2004), the Civil

Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2008, the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights

and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010, Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act

2011, the Equal Status (Amendment) Act 2012, and the Equality (Miscellaneous

Provisions) Act 2015 (Equal Status Acts 2000 to 2015); the National Minimum Wage

1Bunreacht na hÉireann (Constitution of Ireland) 1937.

2Articles 34-37 of the Constitution.

3The Workplace Relations Act 2015 set up this new adjudication system. In this paper, there is reference to

the Equality Tribunal; this body will be dissolved when all claims initiated prior to 1 October 2015 have

been heard. There are some other more minor procedural issues, for example, a decision of an adjudication

officer under the Equal Status Act 2000 is appealed to the Circuit Court.

4Workplace Relations Act 2015.

5Revised statutes are available on the website of the Law Reform Commission

http://revisedacts.lawreform.ie/revacts/intro.