Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Question 358: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of labour inspectors who are currently employed by the State; his plans to increase their number; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27548/06]

Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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The assignment of previously announced additional Labour Inspectors was completed in November 2005. That brought the complement of serving Inspectors to 31 Officers. The increase in staffing represents almost a doubling of the number of Labour Inspectors in the last 2 years.

A major package of measures has been agreed by the parties at the recent Partnership negotiations, including the establishment of a new, statutory Office dedicated to employment rights compliance; a trebling in the number of Labour Inspectors; greater coordination among organisations concerned with compliance; new requirements in respect of record keeping; enhanced employment rights awareness activity; the introduction of a new and more user friendly system of employment rights compliance; increased resourcing of the system; and higher penalties for non-compliance with employment law.

As agreed in the Partnership negotiations, the number of Labour Inspectors will be progressively increased from 31 to 90 by end-2007, as part of an initiative to increase the staffing resources of the Employment Rights Bodies generally. Inspectors will be specially selected and trained and will be deployed on a regionalised basis. In addition, the new Office will be provided with legal, accounting and other administrative support to ensure its effective functioning.