A fair method of fixing minimum rates of pay

It is not too often that the Supreme Court declares something to be unconstitutional, but when it does it is usually something that will have a wide ranging affect for a large number of people.

On May 9, a five-judge Supreme Court decided on the fate of Part III of the Industrial Relations Act, 1946. His Honour Judge O’Donnell delivered the judgment, with which the other 4 Supreme Court Justices’ concurred. The net effect of this decision was that Registered Employment Agreements were held to be unconstitutional on the basis that the law-making power which is invested in the Oireachtas had been abdicated to those who were party to the original agreement.

One of the cornerstones of the Irish legal system is the “separation of powers”, which splits the way the legal system is run into three separate and distinct areas. Much like a tripod, if one of the limbs of the system is intruded upon by one of the others or its functions are taken over by an outside body, the tripod fails to work how it is supposed to. This is what happened with Part III of the Industrial Relations Act, 1946.