Sinn Féin TD for Waterford David Cullinane has called on the Government to come clean on how many additional inspectors have been made available to the Health and Safety Authority to monitor and enforce compliance with the back to work protocol.

Teachta Cullinane said:

“The Health and Safety Authority has been given a huge task to monitor and enforce compliance with public health advice in the workplace.

“The back to work protocol is of little value if the organisation tasked with ensuring compliance and enforcement does not have enough inspectors on the ground.

“We recently learned that the HSA has a mere 67 inspectors to cover the entire state with 8 for the Southeast and 8 for the Northwest.

“On Tuesday 19th of last month, a Fine Gael representative with whom I was debating on Primetime on RTÉ said that there would be ‘hundreds of additional inspectors coming on board in the coming days’

“Days have now become weeks and there has been no clarity on this matter. Fine Gael and this Government need to come clean on the number additional inspectors in place and where are the hundreds of additional inspectors promised?

“It is vital that as we move into the next phase of reopening the economy that workers are given the assurances that plans in place to protect them at work are robust and are being enforced. Workers need certainty and the facts, not spin and an absence of enforcement.”