Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Absolutely, but I know Ms Ward will be well aware that the exploitation of workers was going on long before we ever heard of Covid-19. I would be very interested to have a look at that information. It strikes me as very unfortunate that the Department is not a little more curious about this issue. Given that we were going to have this discussion today about the necessity of updating the legislation, I would have thought we would get some indication from the Department officials concerning the state of play regarding rogue employers.

The figure which Ms Ward quoted in an earlier answer to Senator Gavan - he might nod if this is correct - works out for the lowest-paid workers at approximately €423 per week. That is the minimum wage rate, effectively, and it is not really giving those workers anything to which they do not have a legal entitlement in any event. It strikes me that the closeness of that rate to the minimum wage is disturbing. I would like Ms Ward to get that information regarding inspections, if that is possible, because of the insights which we may derive from it. With the greatest of respect to employers, most of whom I am sure do their best and observe all the regulations, we all know from talking to the MRCI and other organisations that abuses and breaches of the legislation do happen and it is unfortunate that the Department is not more curious about that situation.

Turning to the list of ineligible occupations, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and physiotherapists are included on it. Has consideration been given to relaxing that stricture, given we have a shortage of skills in this area?