Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)

A total of 31 inspectors are in place and arrangements are made to enable them to visit workplaces throughout the State. With regard to their mandate, a number of difficulties have arisen about what must be provided in wage slips. These are some of the issues that must be addressed under the new mandate that will, undoubtedly, be provided for the labour inspectorate.

With regard to Gama, the matter has been in the courts on at least two occasions. We await a Supreme Court determination on the most recent High Court determination. The number of prosecutions was approximately 25 last year. The initial mandate of the inspectorate is to seek redress for workers who have lost out because of exploitation by their employers. I understand this has been done successfully for the majority of the workers in the case of Gama. Subsequently the inspectors examine whether it is possible to pursue a case in the courts, something they have done successfully on many occasions.

One of the recommendations of the report on the mandate of the inspectorate is that it would be more appropriate if the cases were taken to one of the employment rights bodies — the Labour Court or the Employment Appeals Tribunal — rather than the civil courts, because of the standard of proof, the speciality involved and the level of documentation required in them. This is something that will be examined in the context of the new mandate.

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