Ahern forced to eat words on number of labour inspectors

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern was criticised yesterday for claiming the Government had increased the number of labour inspectors to 90 when the true figure was only a third of that amount.

Mr Ahern told the Dáil last week that the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement would get a maximum of only eight new staff this year because the Government’s priority was increasing the Labour Inspectorate.

The inspectorate, a section within the Department of Enterprise, is tasked with inspecting work premises to ensure compliance with labour laws.

“The number of inspectors has risen from 30 to 90,” Mr Ahern told the Dáil last week. “It rose to 60 last year and 90 this year.” But Labour leader Pat Rabbitte queried that figure yesterday, saying his party had recently been informed by Enterprise Minister Micheál Martin in a written answer to a parliamentary question that there were, in fact, only 31 work inspectors.

Mr Martin’s department later confirmed there were only 31 inspectors, but said it had been given sanction to raise that number to 90 over time.

Back in the Dáil, Mr Rabbitte said: “There are still only 31 labour inspectors to cover a workforce of two million.

“All the commitments regarding the new enforcement agency, which was to be established to ensure work standards were being complied with, have not been implemented.

“On the bottom rung of the ladder, workers are being displaced blatantly and for no other reason than some employers find it possible to exploit non-national workers who are afraid to join trade unions or put their heads up and are willing to work additional hours and for the national minimum wage or less than it.”

But Mr Ahern laid the blame for the delay in appointing the additional inspectors at the foot of trade unions representing public servants.

“If Deputy Rabbitte really wants to be helpful, he could put a word in with a few of his party members who are actively involved in the public service unions and who could help us to deal with some of the difficulties in the filling of the 90 posts because there are some restrictions,” Mr Ahern said.

“We will have 90 inspectors, as promised in [the social partnership agreement] Towards 2016 ... The money is there to enable us to do this. If we can remove some of the issues in regard to recruitment, we will be able to move very quickly.

“If the public service unions removed some of the unnecessary obstacles, the minister would be able to employ the 90 inspectors straightaway. I might as well say it straight.”

In the meantime, he said, the inspectorate was doing “a very good job”.

“Last year, the Labour Inspectorate identified more than 2,250 breaches ... Last year, the inspectorate recovered arrears for employees from approximately 350 employers,” Mr Ahern said. “More inspections will be carried out when we have 90 inspectors.”