Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

The majority of hospitality workers will be vaccinated later in the year, hopefully later in the summer. However, hospitality is opening now, when the vast majority of those workers have not been vaccinated. That puts a strong onus on ensuring that quality health and safety provisions are in place. How many of the labour inspectors – we were told earlier on that 53 out of a target of 90 are in place – are detailed to monitoring the hospitality industry over the coming weeks. Fáilte Ireland put down the guidelines. Do the HSA and HIQA have any roles in terms of the follow-up in hospitality? There are to be nominated workers reps in every hospitality outlet, which I welcome. Does the Minister of State support the idea that, if health and safety is not followed in a workplace and issues raised are not being attended to, those workers would be entirely right to walk off the job to defend the health and safety of hospitality workers?

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