Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 183: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he is satisfied that local authorities here are fully compliant with the Organisation and Worktime Act of 1997, with particular reference to the position of sanitary services, engineers and caretakers, some of whom work seven days per week; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38248/10]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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The Organisation of Working Time (General Exemptions) Regulations, 1998 provide that persons employed in certain activities are exempt from the application of Sections 11, 12 and 13 of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997 which deal with rest periods and intervals at work. This exemption applies to employees engaged in the production, transmission or distribution of water.

Article 4 of the Regulations provides that if an employee is not entitled, by reason of this exemption, to the rest period and break referred to in sections 11, 12 and 13 of the Act, the employer must ensure that the employee has available to himself or herself a rest period and break that, in all the circumstances, can reasonably be regarded as an equivalent rest period and break to that outlined in the Act.

Under section 159 of the Local Government Act, 2001, each County and City Manager is responsible for staffing and organisational arrangements necessary for carrying out the functions of the local authorities for which he or she is responsible, in compliance with the relevant employment law requirements.