Industrial Relations Act 1946
Power of Court to summon witnesses, etc.
21.—(1) F14[The Court may, for the purposes of any proceedings before it under F15[this Act, the Redundancy Payments Act 1967, the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977, the Protection of Employees (Employers’ Insolvency) Act 1984 or Part 4 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015, or any investigation under the Employment Equality Act 1998 or the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2001,] do all or any of the following things ]—
(a) summon witnesses to attend before it,
F16[(b) take evidence on oath and, for that purpose, cause to be administered oaths to persons attending as witnesses before it,]
(c) require any such witness to produce to the Court any document in his power or control.
(2) A witness before the Court shall be entitled to the same immunities and privileges as if he were a witness before the High Court.
(3) If any person—
(a) on being duly summoned as a witness before the Court makes default in attending, or
(b) being in attendance as a witness refuses to take an oath legally required by the Court to be taken, or to produce any document in his power or control legally required by the Court to be produced by him, or to answer any question to which the Court may legally require an answer,
he shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding ten pounds.
F17[(3A) A person who, in or for the purpose of proceedings before the Court, gives a statement material in the proceedings while lawfully sworn as a witness that is false and that he or she knows to be false shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable—
(a) on summary conviction, to a class B fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months, or both, or
(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding €100,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years, or both.]
F18[(4) A document purporting to be signed by the chairman or the registrar of the Labour Court stating that—
(a) a person named in the document was, by summons under subsection (1), required to attend before the Labour Court on a day and at a time and place specified in the document, and
(b) a sitting of the Labour Court was held on that day and at that time and place,
shall, in proceedings for an offence under this section, be evidence of the matters so stated unless the contrary is shown.]
F19[(5) A document purporting to be signed by the chairman or the registrar of the Court stating that—
(a) a person named in the document was, by summons under subsection (1), required to attend before the Court on a day and at a time and place specified in the document, and
(b) a sitting of the Court was held on that day and at that time and place,
shall, in proceedings for an offence under this section, be evidence of the matters so stated unless the contrary is shown.]
Annotations
Amendments:
F14
Substituted (1.10.2015) by Workplace Relations Act 2015 (16/2015), s. 74(a)(i), S.I. No. 410 of 2015.
F15
Substituted (29.07.2021) by Workplace Relations (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2021 (29/2021), s. 6(b)(i), S.I. No. 397 of 2021.
F16
Substituted (1.10.2015) by Workplace Relations Act 2015 (16/2015), s. 74(a)(ii), S.I. No. 410 of 2015.
F17
Inserted (29.07.2021) by Workplace Relations (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2021 (29/2021), s. 6(b)(ii), S.I. No. 397 of 2021. A class B fine means a fine not exceeding €4,000 as provided (4.01.2011) by Fines Act 2010 (8/2010), ss. 3, 5(1), S.I. No. 662 of 2010.
F18
Inserted (1.10.2015) by Workplace Relations Act 2015 (16/2015), s. 74(b), S.I. No. 410 of 2015.
F19
Inserted (1.10.2015) by National Minimum Wage (Low Pay Commission) Act 2015 (22/2015), s. 12(1), commenced by S.I. No. 410 of 2015 as per subs. (2).
Modifications (not altering text):
C12
Functions transferred and references to “Department of Finance” and “Minister for Finance” construed (29.07.2011) by Finance (Transfer of Departmental Administration and Ministerial Functions) Order 2011 (S.I. No. 418 of 2011), arts. 2, 3, 5 and sch. 1 part 2, in effect as per art. 1(2), subject to transitional provisions in arts. 6-9.
2. (1) The administration and business in connection with the performance of any functions transferred by this Order are transferred to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.
(2) References to the Department of Finance contained in any Act or instrument made thereunder and relating to the administration and business transferred by paragraph (1) shall, on and after the commencement of this Order, be construed as references to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.
3. The functions conferred on the Minister for Finance by or under the provisions of —
(a) the enactments specified in Schedule 1, and
(b) the statutory instruments specified in Schedule 2,
are transferred to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.
...
5. References to the Minister for Finance contained in any Act or instrument under an Act and relating to any functions transferred by this Order shall, from the commencement of this Order, be construed as references to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.
...
Schedule 1
Enactments
...
Part 2
1922 to 2011 Enactments
|
Number and Year |
Short Title |
Provision |
|
(1) |
(2) |
(3) |
|
... |
... |
... |
|
No. 26 of 1946 |
Industrial Relations Act 1946 |
Sections 14(2), 21(4) and 70 |
|
... |
... |
... |
C13
Application of section modified (8.05.2007) by Protection of Employment (Exceptional Collective Redundancies and Related Matters) Act 2007 (27/2007), s. 8(3), commenced on enactment.
Hearings, and giving of opinions, by Labour Court.
8.— ...
(3) For the purposes of this Part, section 21 of the Industrial Relations Act 1946 has effect as if in subsection (1) of that section “and under Part 2 of the Protection of Employment (Exceptional Collective Redundancies and Related Matters) Act 2007” were inserted after “for the purposes of any proceedings before it under this Act”.
...
C14
Amount of fine in subs. (3) increased (18.07.1990) by Industrial Relations Act 1990 (19/1990), s. 4 and sch. 1 ref. no. 6, commenced on enactment. £200 converted (1.01.1999) to €253.95. This translates into a class E fine, not exceeding €500, as provided (4.01.2011) by Fines Act 2010 (8/2010), ss. 3, 8(2) and table ref. no. 2, S.I. No. 662 of 2010.
Increase of fines.
4.—(1) A person convicted of an offence for which a penalty is provided in any enactment indicated in the First Schedule to this Act at any reference number shall, in lieu of the fine provided in that enactment, be liable to the fine specified in column (3) of that Schedule at that reference number, and that enactment shall be construed and have effect accordingly.
...
First Schedule
|
Increase of Fines |
||
|
Section 4 . |
||
|
Ref No. |
Section |
Fine |
|
(1) |
(2) |
(3) |
|
... |
... |
... |
|
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT, 1946 |
||
|
6 |
21(3) |
£200 |
|
... |
... |
... |
C15
Application of subs. (2) extended (9.05.1977) by Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 (10/1977), s. 8(9), S.I. No. 138 of 1977, as amended (1.10.1993) by Unfair Dismissals (Amendment) Act 1993 (22/1993), s. 7(c), commenced as per s. 17(4).
Determination of claims for unfair dismissal.
8.— ...
(9) Section 21 (2) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1946, shall apply in relation to all proceedings before the Tribunal as if the references in that section to the Labour Court were references to the Tribunal and subsection (17) of section 39 of the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967, shall apply in relation to proceedings before the Tribunal under this Act as it applies to matters referred to it under the said section 39 [with the substitution in paragraph (e) of the said subsection (17) of ’a fine not exceeding £1,000’ for ’a fine not exceeding twenty pounds’].
...
Editorial Notes:
E16
Previous affecting provision: subs. (1) amended (31.05.2001) by Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2001 (11/2001), s. 4, S.I. No. 232 of 2001; substituted as per F-note above.
E17
Previous affecting provision: application of section extended (1.01.1993) by Pensions Act 1990 (25/1990), s. 77(3)(c), S.I. No. 366 of 1992; substituted (5.04.2004) by Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2004 (9/2004), s. 22(1), S.I. No. 141 of 2004.
E18
Previous affecting provision: application of section extended (1.07.1977) by Employment Equality Act 1977 (16/1977), s. 21(3)(c), S.I. No. 176 of 1977. Employment Equality Act 1977 repealed (18.10.1999) by Employment Equality Act 1998 (21/1998), s. 5(1), S.I. No. 320 of 1999, subject to transitional provisions in subs. (2).
E19
Previous affecting provision: application of section extended with modifications (2.09.1961) by Electricity (Temporary Provisions) Act 1961 (42/1961), s. 3(4), commenced as per s. 1(1). Duration of Act terminated (13.09.1961) by Electricity (Temporary Provisions) Act, 1961 (Termination) Order 1961 (S.I. No. 197 of 1961).