Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the Minister’s directness and honesty in saying this is primarily a resources issue. When we raised this on Second Stage the Minister said this legislation should be taken in conjunction with the withholding of information Bill, which deals with a much narrower range of offences. I thank him for that.

Before I bring forward proposals, I will examine how we can do it in a cost-effective manner. I am an Opposition Deputy with one parliamentary assistant and a secretary and I do not have the wherewithal to do the costings the Minister and his officials can do.

He should examine what cost is entailed in what I am suggesting.

If we consider the example of the smoking ban, its enforcement has been so successful because there is a large monetary penalty for non-compliance. Publicans, in particular, know there is a risk that an inspector may come in at any time to see whether the no-smoking sign is displayed and ensure there is no trace of ash and so on inside the pub. That is why there is such wide-scale compliance with the ban. The same should apply in the case of the service providers we are discussing here. I accept that there is a very large number of voluntary organisations involved, but there must be the possibility of somebody arriving unannounced and checking for compliance. Non-implementation of a health and safety statement could result in an accident and have serious consequences. Where a provider is engaged in providing a service on behalf of the State and receiving grant aid from the State, are there consequences, such as the withholding of grant aid, if that provider does not produce a safety statement? These are issues that need to be examined in more detail. We should be able to bring forward proposals that will ensure necessary moneys are not diverted from the provision of front-line services.