The demise of voluntarism in the Irish system of industrial relations

Abstract

Ireland’s system of industrial relations has traditionally been described as voluntarist in nature. The literature indicates that industrial relations rules and rule-making processes can take a variety of forms in different systems and environments. The Irish system is characterised as one in which the actors largely established their own procedural and substantive rules through the social institution of collective bargaining, with minimal intervention of the state and the law, except for the provision by the state of a number of third party agencies. The agencies underpinned collective bargaining and assisted disputing parties in reaching mutually acceptable collective bargaining outcomes, and established a kind of voluntary law or common rule on a norms and precedents basis.