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

Yesterday, I received a letter from the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, which confirmed that there have been over 200 complaints about breaches of the Covid-19 guidelines in workplaces and there has not been a single on-site inspection of one of those workplaces. That is 200 groups of workers potentially working in unsafe conditions and 200 appeals to the Health and Safety Authority, HSA, falling on deaf ears. BAM and JBC Construction workers on the Intel site were told to return to work on Monday last despite the clear guidelines that it was not safe to restart work this week. They have been on-site this week doing excavation, fitting telecommunications ducting and other non-essential and non-preparatory work.

I have photos and videos. If they blatantly broke the rules this week, what rules will they be willing to break next week? Workers reported this to the HSA, as Deputy Bríd Smith and I did, but no site inspection has taken place and the works continue today. More than two weeks ago, a complaint was made regarding Moyvalley Meats, this time to the HSE, with information from inside the plant that sick workers were working and living alongside other workers. There have been several confirmed cases of coronavirus in the factory. There are even reports that some workers are doping to keep temperatures down while clearly sick, with management turning a blind eye. There has still been no inspection of Keelings, though I made a complaint with documentation on 20 April. These big businesses are breaking the rules. Why are they being allowed to do it? Will the Taoiseach intervene with the HSA now to ensure there are on-site inspections where there are complaints?

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