Mr. Declan Hughes:

I thank the Senator. Any issues in that regard are of great concern, particularly in the context of the protection of workers' rights and good practice. We have maintained a very active inspection regime for workplaces, sites, etc., and they are done. I was with the team of inspectors in County Carlow recently, and they had just completed a series of inspections across the south-east region. They are very active in workplaces, checking for compliance and then taking enforcement action. For example, in 2022, the WRC inspectors closed nearly 4,000 inspection cases and carried out 5,800 inspection site visits. They recovered €1.4 million in unpaid wages, and that was returned to employees, and 89 employers were prosecuted in 2022. The WRC publishes the full range of sectors and the inspections that it undertakes, and it also undertakes quite a bit of risk-based assessment of sites and employers, etc. Those facilities are available for any workers or employees who feel in any way exploited, or that their rights are not being protected. I assure the Senator that those supports, action and infrastructure are there.