Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The cigire cannot be there all of the time but, for the avoidance of doubt, the trade union will be there all of the time. This is the best defence a worker has and the best chance of vindicating people's rights at work. The Tánaiste pointed to the issues in the sector. Some of them relate to the fact that there are many migrant workers in the sector. Some of them also relate to the fact that people do not feel supported to make complaints. The solution to this cannot just be more inspections. There was only €1 million in additional funding provided for the WRC in the budget. This should be increased dramatically. If what the Tánaiste is telling me, and it appears to be, is that he is reliant on the inspection regime and people having the courage to come forward, which I do not think they will have, then we need to see additional inspectors in the WRC and in the HSA and a bit more proactive surveillance taking place. All of the available evidence suggests that where there are inspections, they are delivering for workers - not to the extent a trade union would do but it is happening. We need to do a bit more than simply just talk about more inspections. More needs to be done to speak directly to these workers.

See this speech in context