Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 75: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment further to Parliamentary Question No. 104 of 17 May 2006, the broader issues other than safety, health and welfare at work which need to be considered before proposing legislative change in view of the fact that such legislation is urgently needed as there were 73 deaths in the workplace in 2005. [23475/06]

Seán Ryan (Dublin North, Labour)
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Question 104: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if his Department has had discussions with the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform in relation to bringing forward legislation to introduce a crime of corporate manslaughter; if so, the results of these discussions to date; if not, the reason this matter has not been examined in view of the fact that most EU States have such laws; his views of such a law; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23508/06]

Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 123: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if legislation will be introduced to effect the proposals of the Law Reform Commission of October 2005 to provide for the offence of corporate manslaughter. [23474/06]

Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 75, 104 and 123 together.

The Law Reform Commission in its report on corporate killing in October 2005 recommended that as the current law of corporate liability for manslaughter does not provide a clear basis for constructing liability, a new basis, in legislative form, is necessary. The Commission also recommended that there should be individual statutory liability for managers who were culpable in the causation of death.

At the time of the drafting by the Department of a Bill, which ultimately became the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, 2005, the Attorney General's Office was consulted on the matter of corporate killing and its appropriateness in an occupational safety Bill. That office was of the opinion that there were much broader issues than safety, health and welfare at work relating to the overall criminal justice system which needed to be considered, as legislating in the relatively confined area of occupational safety and health would omit other sectors where such an offence could be committed. Therefore it was decided that it was not appropriate to deal with the issue of corporate killing in a Bill which was providing for the law and regulation of occupational safety, health and welfare.

The matter of consideration of the recommendations in the report of the Law Reform Commission is one for the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform in the context of his main responsibilities for the criminal law system. This Department has not had discussions with the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform on the matter. The matter is dealt with as far as practicable in the 2005 Act under Section 80 which provides for directors, managers or other similar officer of an undertaking to be held liable by the Courts for an offence that is attributable to connivance or neglect on their part.