About the Industrial Relations Research Trust

The Trust was established for educational purposes to raise funds to provide educational scholarships/bursaries to support and fund postgraduate research in the field of Industrial Relations.

The Trustees (14) have come together for this purpose from academia, industry, trades unions, third party institutions and are significant in, and representative of the fields from which they come.

The Trustees intend to identify a number of themes annually which will advance public understanding and knowledge in the field of Industrial Relations and education generally, and to invite, by way of advertising, research proposals from students wishing to pursue postgraduate research in Irish universities.

The Trustees will select from the received proposals each year those which are most likely to make significant contribution to understanding in the field of Industrial Relations generally.

The completed research projects/theses will be published both in print and electronically (made available via the TCD web site, acting as host for the Trust’s electronic distribution of its published materials to the public generally).
Scholarships will be provided to students through the universities which have admitted the candidates as of suitable standard to conduct research at that level under university supervision.
 

Taoiseach - Bertie Ahern TD

Speech by the Taoiseach, Mr Bertie Ahern, T.D., at the launch of the Industrial Relations Research Trust, at the House of Lords Chamber, Bank of Ireland, College Green on Wednesday, 23rd November, 2005 at 5:15p.m.

I am delighted to be here with you this evening to formally launch the Industrial Relations Research Trust.

This is a very welcome initiative and I congratulate the founders and Trustees - all of whom are distinguished people in their respective fields. I would also like to pay tribute to the three corporate founding donors - CRH, The Dublin Port Authority, and the ESB - for ensuring that the Trust will be on a sound financial footing from its foundation. Together with the support of Trinity College Dublin, you are initiating a really worthwhile and far-sighted venture. And, you have also achieved this without direct State funding.

Bertie Ahern

Research not only creates new products but new insights and potential solutions. This is particularly true in the case of the social sciences and policy-making, including the field of industrial relations and human resources. We need greater understanding of the dynamics of the labour market and of the best practices in human resource management. To get a flexible, knowledge driven workforce, we need a steady stream of fresh insights and analysis.

Against this background, the new Trust is likely to have a lot of areas of interest from which to choose. There are many important questions that we need to address in the coming months where good quality and timely research could add real value to the debate.

I see the Trust's research work as being directly relevant to a range of interested parties including employers, trade unions, Social Partners and academics. The proposed "real time" nature of your work will ensure also that you provide an important input for economists, policy makers, public representatives and officials.

I wish you every success with your work.

 
 

Chairperson - Mary Keating

Speech by Ms Mary Keating, Chair at the launch of the INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS RESEARCH TRUST
House of Lords, College Green Dublin 2
November 23rd 2005
Mary Keating

Ladies and gentleman / Guests and friends

On behalf of the Trustees of the Industrial Relations Research Trust I am delighted to welcome An Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern TD, our Founding Sponsors and all our guests to the Trust launch this evening. Taoiseach - we all know your long-term involvement and deep interest in industrial relations and your presence this evening is very much appreciated.

When the idea of a Trust was first mooted it involved a small group of deeply interested people who were keen to ensure that we find a way to invest in a deeper and better understanding the subject so that the practice gets better.

Industrial relations may by some be viewed as the preserve of a narrow set of interests, and perhaps something of an anachronism in the modern economy. It is far from the truth, and the establishment of this Trust is a measure of the importance of the issue in the shaping and progress of our economy today.

Near full employment and a buoyant economy in a global and multicultural environment has not eliminated the issues that have always formed the nucleus of industrial relations debate, negotiation and sometimes dispute. The environment has changed but the issues remain, and so we are, more than ever, challenged to understand and respond more effectively.

Industrial Relations is a vibrant multi-disciplinary field which intersects business, economics, law, psychology and sociology. This diversity is reflected in the backgrounds of the Trustees who represent both sides of industry, researchers, academics, policy makers, lawyers and solution finders.

The Trust aims to make a practical independent contribution to our thinking and practice, and to do so by bringing some of our brightest graduates and researchers into this area. It is our view that providing rigorous cutting edge research to real questions will advance public understanding and enrich the debate, providing practitioners, policy makers, academics and the media access to knowledge and insight, enabling more informed practice, dialogue and decision making.

The Trust funds will be used to provide scholarships for postgraduate students to pursue Industrial Relations research interests in Irish universities. The themes for the first round of these scholarships will be announced in early 2006.

Our founding sponsors have readily affirmed the instincts behind the need to set up this Trust. As many of you know there is always a sense of trepidation in approaching potential sponsors - they might of course say no! But in this case, our Founding Sponsors have responded with a level of interest and significant encouragement that has reinforced the Trustees belief in the need for this initiative.

On behalf of the Trustees, I want to thank CRH, Dublin Port Company and the ESB, for their generous sponsorship, and to welcome Jack Golden, Enda Connellan and Padraig McManus, together with others from those companies and their unions, here this evening.

Trinity College Dublin has agreed to 'host' the Trust which means that we have a presence in bricks and mortar, or stone and mahogany but mainly electronically. This will mean that research findings will be available via the TCD web site which will host the publication of the IRRT research and our future activities and publications.

But that for the moment - is in the future.

Now it is my pleasure to ask An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, to formally launch the Industrial Relations Research Trust.