asked the Minister for Labour the estimates which have been made by his Department regarding the extent of the extra resources which will be required if the recommendations of the Barrington Commission on Health and Safety at Work are to be implemented; and if he will give an assurance that the necessary resources will be made available for same.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Health and Safety at Work Recommendations.
13.
The report of the Commission of Inquiry on Safety, Health and Welfare at Work contained a great variety of recommendations. My main priority at present is to bring forward the legislation to give effect to those recommendations which require a legislative base, including the establishment of a National Authority for Occupational Safety and Health.
It will essentially be for the new authority in the first instance to make an assessment of the overall needs and resources necessary to give effect to the broad recommendations of the Barrington Commission. Some preliminary consideration has been given to initial resource requirements but this has been purely tentative and I do not propose to publish the results.
It will be for the Government to decide on the level of resources to be made available, taking into account the phased approach recommended by the commission.
Would the Minister be prepared to confirm to the Dáil that if we move to a situation of blanket coverage where protective legislation will apply to every workplace in the country, that is bound to very substantially increase the demands on his Department and on the new agency which is to be established? There is very little point in passing legislation through this House if we are not in a position to enforce it. Believe it or not, we have apparently been congratulated by the Council of Europe recently on having the best anti-water pollution legislation in Europe. The fact that we are quite incapable of enforcing it is entirely another matter. Would the Minister accept that there is no point in bringing legislation before this House unless, when he introduces it, he is in a position to establish to the House that he can make it stick?
What the Deputy has said is sensible but he will also know, as he had a great involvement in this area in the Department of Labour, that it is the intention of the interim board to bring in this legislation. I would be very glad to introduce it and to implement it on a phased basis. Then we could worry about the next problem. I would not be pessimistic and say that in future years — I am not talking about decades — we would be in a position to start implementing it. With the considerable number of staff already involved in health and safety we could start implementing it now on a phased basis, not taking into account the extra resources that would perhaps be available to us in time to come. I would be happy if we could pass the Bill. As the Deputy will appreciate, it will take some time to organise this board, taking into account the various organisations that are concerned. We should not delay with this matter. I am continually pressing to have the legislation agreed between the Department, the parliamentary draftsman, and the Attorney General's office. I agree that there would be substantial costs involved if we were to implement all the recommendations in the report, although I do not have a total financial assessment on that. We should continue in our efforts to bring about this measure because it is something that is very desirable. I am sure the Deputy knows the pluses and minuses of having this measure from the point of view of the national economy. It does not just involve a straight cost to the Exchequer. There are many other matters involved such as people's lives, their health and insurance costs.
I want to put down a marker to the Minister in advance of the debate in the House and to say that I am a little concerned about his approach that the first thing to do is to get the legislation on the Statute Books and then see how much of it we can implement and at what pace we can implement it. Our Statute Books are groaning with legislation which we have never set about implementing.
The Deputy will appreciate that, as the Minister for Labour who is responsible for looking after the health and safety of the workforce, I would be failing in my duty if I was not to try to change the position where we have legislation covering only 20 per cent of the workforce. We now have an excellent commission report which will help us to give health and safety to 100 per cent of the workforce. Regardless of what happens, if we could have the legislation passed we could improve substantially the safety and welfare of the workers, at perhaps no great cost.
What is the Minister's present estimated timetable?
I would hope to be able to give a better answer to the Deputy on that shortly. We are working on the sixth draft of the Bill, as I told the Deputy recently, and I hope it will be the last draft.
Does the Minister expect the Bill to be published before the summer recess?
No, I think it will be in the autumn.
Does the Minister expect the Bill to be published before the general election?
I would expect that it will be in the autumn session.
That may or may not be before the general election.