Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

Will the Minister acknowledge that the proof of the pudding is what happens on the ground? Is it not a fact that the number of inspections dropped from 7,168 in 2003 to 5,160 last year, a decrease of approximately 2,000 inspections? Is it not a fact also that prosecutions have fallen from 20 in 2003 to 14 last year? We are going backwards and the notion that all is well or will soon be well is to give a nod if not a wink to the climate of exploitation that has been unearthed in cases such as that involving Gama workers or the Filipino woman who was expected to work for €1 an hour on an Irish Ferries vessel operating out of my constituency. Will the Minister not acknowledge that there is an urgent need, in the increasingly complicated labour market in operation in our country, to have a vigorous policing system? Will he not acknowledge also that it is pointless in Members of this House enacting legislation to protect workers if there is little prospect of it being enforced on the ground?

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