Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)

There are obligations on both. The obligation on the main contractor is to give the information to the subcontractor, but the employee in question in this instance would be an employee of the subcontractor. In that circumstance, the obligation to give him or her the information lies with the latter, who is the direct employer. As the Bill stood, the middle person, the subcontractor, would have had no obligations regarding health and safety; the obligation would have been directly from the main contractor to all those working on the site. Under Senator Coghlan's amendment, the obligation is on the main contractor to pass information on health and safety requirements to the subcontractor, who in turn is obliged to ensure that his own employees on the site have the relevant information. That strikes me as considerably more workable. It also ensures that the subcontractor, as the direct employer, has the obligation towards his own employees.