Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I too express my sympathies with those who have lost their lives. Those deaths are an individual tragedy for the families themselves and it is all the more incumbent on us to make sure we minimise the risk into the future. We all agree that we want to move forward as quickly and as safely as possible to a situation where we reopen as much as possible of our society and our economy. The numbers are encouraging and we hope the trend continues in that direction. There is a significant job to do in terms of the testing and tracing regime, which still requires some work to build confidence.

The five phases of the plan are welcome, but we need to understand that it is vitally important to successfully navigate between one phase and the next and ensure each phase works well and as it should. The first phase will be critically important and we need to get it right. Should the decision be made to move to phase one, the construction sector will be really important in terms of both the protections that are put in place and how that pans out.

There are significant health and safety issues. The protocols for the construction sector differ quite a bit from other industries. This poses a risk not just to those working in the sector but also to the rest of us, and there is a potential impact on how we roll out the five-phase exit plan.

Since construction was effectively thrown under the bus in 2009, there has been little in terms of support for the sector in respect of employment and conditions. Many sites are substandard and are not represented by the CIF or ICTU. Some of the protocols that have been put in place, which it is hoped will work, will not apply to the whole sector. I have raised the issue of an all-island approach because a significant number of firms and workers in Northern Ireland are part of our construction sector.

Orla Hegarty has raised a number of issues. She stated that 100,000 people will be on the move from Monday, that 80% of the sector works in Leinster and that it is common for workers to share vehicles. We all see that happening. These workers are with their families at weekends. They also have weekday families, whereby they live in a location for a few days but cannot permanently reside in the area where construction is taking place. Many are subcontractors and financial penalties and pressures are building due to projects not being completed on time. Taking time to do something may not be an option. There is also the sharing of things like huts, toilets, vehicles and so on. The CIF protocol is advisory, but it is not represented in all locations.

I want to concentrate on the capacity of the Health and Safety Authority, HSA. There were elevated protocols over the weekend, but capacity and resources are required to implement them. It was stated recently that there are as many dog wardens in the country as there are HSA inspectors. Capacity is limited and will have to be elevated if there is to be oversight. There will of course be very good firms who will do things properly, but we all know that it is a sector that is very informal and, with the best will in the world, the HSA will not be able to cover the entire sector.

A resource is available, which is the trades unions. They train their members in health and safety and could be positively engaged with to ensure the necessary oversight. We are in a very dynamic situation. Guidance, advice and direction will not be enough. There needs to be more than that. In a reply to Deputy Paul Murphy regarding the 200 complaints that have been made to the HSA, it was stated that none has been processed so far. That gives us an indication of the kind of backlog and problems that we will face in the future.

I have two specific questions for the Taoiseach. One relates to the powers and resources that will be available to the HSA and the second concerns the arrangements between Northern Ireland and the Republic in terms of an all-island approach to this sector.

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