John Gilroy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I preface my remarks by saying that everyone in the Chamber and in Ireland is in favour of health and safety legislation. However, a discussion took place in the chamber of Cork County Council yesterday, which is reported on the front page of the Irish Examiner today, about three outdoor council staff who have found themselves suspended after a report was made about them by a health and safety inspector. Nobody is denigrating the work of the Health and Safety Authority but an over-emphasis on the rules and an implementation of the harshest sanctions associated with health and safety, along with a lot bureaucracy, is crazy. There is no common sense in this issue. The men filled a pothole but find themselves suspended from their place of employment for doing so. It seems to me that there is a stifling bureaucracy at work in this country that squeezes the good out of any innovation or innovative thought. I ask the Leader to arrange a debate in the Chamber. If this country is going to recover its prosperity, then we will have to examine the red tape, rules and regulations that we seem to be in a frenzy to implement.

The case of the three outdoor staff in Cork County Council is merely an example of what I am talking about. I am therefore asking the Leader to arrange for a debate on this matter. The Health and Safety Authority and Cork County Council should have a bit of cop on and reinstate these men as fast as they can.