Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In light of both the way this country operates and the nature of the inspection process, I presume that the primary obligation to ensure a safe workplace is on the employer. We obviously need a robust inspection regime and I am glad to hear that the Health and Safety Authority is committed to strengthening that. However, we need to be conscious of the fact that the Return to Work Safely Protocol is designed to create a robust regime which employers, working with their employees, will honour. That is the cornerstone of safe workplaces. It is backed up by a robust inspection regime.

I would like to ask Mr. Tom Parlon about the construction industry. I accept the case concerning the larger active members of the CIF. Anecdotally, however, one hears that the larger operators are more likely to be have the resources and more able to operate accordingly. What is the industry doing to ensure that smaller sites throughout the country are actively involved? They are more difficult to inspect and less likely to follow all the obligations. Although they are not the CIF's core members, this represents a very major obligation because if they do not do this right they will shut this industry down again. What is the CIF doing to ensure that this happens?