Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

I am more confused now on this saga. Last October the Law Reform Commission report recommended the creation of a new offence of corporate killing. The Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy Fahey, welcomed it. At the time the Minister of State said it was his intention to establish in law an offence of statutory corporate killing which would be prosecuted on indictment, in essence, an offence which would be defined in terms of gross negligence, manslaughter. That is what he said he would do in October 2003. We have been promised a health and safety at work Bill virtually every month since. It was to be published last month, but we have not yet seen it. Now we are informed that the offence of corporate manslaughter will not be part of that but some other offence will be created, if I have listened carefully to what the Minister has said, that will give some signal to directors that they must be vigilant.

We are talking about cases where people are killed owing to negligence. Let me ask a very direct question. Is it still the Government's intention to introduce an offence of corporate manslaughter? If that is the intention, why is a watered down offence to be included in the imminent health and safety at work Bill?

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