Constitutional Protection And The European Convention On Human Rights—An Irish Joke?

Abstract

IT may be gratifying to some that Ms. Anne Staines was able to conclude that Irish Constitution guarantees to protect the individual's liberty against unfair restrictions by trade unions in a closed shop situation. 1 No doubt individual liberties may be threatened in a closed shop situation and as lawyers, we should be anxious to minimise the possibility of such violations arising. However, before the approach of the Irish judiciary to the concept of freedom of association is enthusiastically espoused by our British colleagues it is submitted that it is only fair that the opposite side of the coin be shown to readers of this journal. The state of industrial relations in the Republic has given rise to grave concern for some years now. In particular the almost annual strikes in such public sectors as the postal and telephone, transport and electricity services have tended to make Ireland a laughing stock among certain junior diplomats stationed in the country. More significantly, a Commission on Industrial Relations has recently concluded a three-year investigation into the state of Irish industrial relations and has apparently 2 made a number of recommendations which are likely to prove very controversial if and when they are adopted by the Government. Among the many proposals attributed to the Report are recommendations that interunion disputes and unofficial action be removed from the scope of the Trade Disputes Act 1906. It is in connection with these two problems of inter-union disputes and unofficial action that the wisdom of the Irish judiciary may be called into question.