Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is a shortfall of almost 30% on where we should be. Having noted the good work the inspectors do and the amount of money they recover in unpaid wages – let us call it what it is: wage theft – I am bit shocked that things have been let go to the point of our having such a shortfall in labour inspectors. How has that come about?

It is about two years since I asked my next question. There has been a consistent shortfall in the number of labour inspectors who should be in operation. A complement of 90 was recommended in 2006 as part of the Towards 2016 agreement. Many more people are at work today than there were then, yet our number of inspectors is effectively half of what it was then. The repercussions of this for workers are really serious. The Minister of State referred to this in terms of the bogus self-employment issue I referred to.

I am genuinely concerned about this matter. It occurs to me that the Department just has not been proactive enough. I do not expect the Minister of State to know off the top of her head the highest number of inspectors her Department has had over the past four years, but I would like to know that figure. My random guess is that it is nowhere near 80. This is just not good enough. People are not getting the protections and support they need in the workplace. We know there are major issues in the area we are talking about today, namely construction. I want a follow-up on that particular point, and that will be it.