Vol. 566 No. 1
167 Mr. Allen asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if operatives from outside Ireland are obliged to have a current safe pass card to work on construction sites here; and the number of site inspections which have taken place to date to ensure compliance. [12166/03]
The FÁS safe pass training scheme, which provides a basic safety training certificate, is being made mandatory on a phased basis and will apply to all building industry employees from 1 June 2003. The only exemptions will be workers from Northern Ireland and the UK, who hold similar current registration cards in respect of schemes which FÁS recognises as being of an equivalent standard to safe pass. All new projects commenced after 1 May 2002 are required to ensure that all staff employed on construction work on the site hold a current safe pass card. So far, more than 200,000 workers have been trained on the safe pass scheme. Inspection of safe pass cards is a routine aspect of site visits and there have been 1,300 construction site visits this year.
