Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)

I will start with the last point made by Senator McDowell. When provision is made for the registration, evaluation and authorisation of chemicals directive, the REACH directive, it is intended additional people with qualifications and expertise in this area will be employed. Where individual inspectors or the entire inspectorate do not have expertise in a particular case, it is the practice that consultants are employed to deliver that expertise. That is the practice currently and when the REACH directive is taken on board, additional specialised staff will be employed to deal with the requirements thereunder.

On the point made by Deputy Leyden, the word "written" in the Bill covers letter, fax, e-mail and any of the other means he mentioned. I assure Senator O'Toole that if an inspector needs access to additional expertise from other inspectors, from within the Health and Safety Authority or externally from consultant, it will be available.

Like Senators and Deputies, I have heard the concerns of employers that there could be long delays before matters, which have been put right, are acknowledged by an inspector. That is the reason for the provision of one month. A month seems to be a reasonable period. In some of the complex cases mentioned by Senators McDowell and O'Toole, particularly in the chemical industry, the ameliorating provisions put in place by the employer would really have to be looked at in some detail by the inspector and the Health and Safety Authority.

Senator O'Toole's two main concerns were that an inspector would feel he or she had full support in delivering his or her determination and that the employer, the chemical factory or otherwise, would not be out of commission for an unnecessarily long period. There is, however, a provision for one month. Senator O'Toole and other Senators raised a number of interesting points. I will consider them before Report Stage but my advice is that they are fully dealt with in the section as it stands. I am satisfied the points raised by Senators are adequately dealt with.