Vol. 510 No. 2
34 Mr. Stanton asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if, further to Parliamentary Question No. 97 of 12 May 1999, she has received the submission from the Protection of Young Persons Monitoring Group mentioned in the reply; if so, details of same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21975/99]
The Protection of Young Persons Monitoring Group made a submission to me at the end of May 1999. The submission proposed certain measures which might be considered to improve the enforcement of the legislation and the operation of the Act. The measures proposed for consideration included an increase in the number of labour inspectors to facilitate more effective implementation of the legislation; an examination of the working hours of inspectors with a view to making them available to work at, unconventional hours and at weekends, when breaches of the young persons legislation are more likely to occur; an obligation on all employers to display the abstract of the Act, which sets out the main provisions of the Act in summary form; an examination of possible measures to encourage young persons who are nervous about seeking the protection of legislation; an examination of the possibility of altering the burden of proof in the Act in relation to a prosecution under the provisions of the Act so that where an inspector has reasonable suspicion that young people are employed, there would then be a statutory duty on the employer to prove otherwise.
These proposals are being examined by my officials with a view to improving the enforcement of the legislation and thus the operation of the Act.
