Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach agus leis na finnéithe as teacht os comhair an choiste seo.

No one can claim that they did not know about this issue because it was raised by ICTU and the unions in early March. The Government was well aware of it. SIPTU wrote to the then Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Creed, on 3 April to warn him of their concerns in this sector if health and safety was not correctly implemented. It contacted the HSA on 28 April to ask for inspections. My Sinn Féin colleague, Deputy Stanley, also wrote to the then Minister on 30 April to highlight concerns. Given that all of these sections knew of the potential dangers to those who work in the meat processing factories, I find it baffling that this was allowed to happen both on a Government level and on a HSA level. Is it MII's view that if these warnings had been taken seriously by all agencies at the beginning, this would have limited the number of cases?