Marie Sherlock (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the WRC and Mr. O'Brien for being here. I thank Mr. O'Brien for his enormous work on this issue. He is continuing the strong tradition and enormous work of Ken Fleming, my former colleague in SIPTU, who did so much to shine a light on practices in the sector.

My first question is to the WRC. I thank the representatives for the documentation that was submitted. Looking at the documentation, the number of inspections and the contravention and prosecution rates, a quick calculation suggests that across all inspections, there is a contravention rate of about 39%. In the fishing sector, the figure is 73% for 2020. I want to gain a better understanding of what happens in the WRC when figures such as that are seen. What mechanisms does the commission have to communicate to the Department that contravention of the law is endemic in the sector? I am sure there are good employers in the fishing sector but with such a high rate of contravention, what mechanisms exist to communicate with the Department? How has the commission responded in terms of the allocation of specific inspectors to the fishing sector?