Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I am asking for an inspection in order that we can find out. I have an internal document from the company - which I will not name again - which refers to family groups and hostel groups which, in my opinion, clearly indicates that social distancing guidelines are not being followed and that workers' health is being endangered. The document states that the accommodation units will be regarded as family units. It indicates that family units are of 50 people or more, with effectively no social distancing between those 50-plus people who are considered to be part of one family unit. It also states that workers may at times be required to "change family unit", meaning that this workplace may well be a hotspot waiting to happen. The company also admitted to RTÉ that its workers share bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchens, making social distancing impossible and putting workers' health at risk.

There are two issues here. One is the issue of the union Unite which, in the past, has tried to represent these workers, to access these workers to discuss their rights with them and help to organise them. The second issue is that of a Government or State agency being able to inspect the workplace. I, along with workers, have been sent from pillar to post trying to work out the body with responsibility here. Originally, we were sent to the HSE but we got a response from the executive saying that this is not its responsibility.

The Minister said today that the HSE has powers. We will see about that. The HSA has said that it does not have powers to enforce the Covid-19 guidelines.

Earlier, the Minister said the HSA has power. Let us accept that as it is and presume it does not need to be granted additional powers. The question then is simply should workplace inspections take place so that we can see precisely what the problem is and whether workers' interests are being endangered.

See this speech in context