Dáil debates
Thursday, 20 April 2023
Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate
Health and Safety
4:25 pm
Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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This matter is self-explanatory. It is a sensitive case. It involves about 4,500 families and workers and their safety. It has been reported in the press this week that unfortunately there was another incident in the Stryker factory in Carrigtwohill. Unfortunately, One gentleman is on life support as we speak.
I am not raising this for kudos or anything of that nature. This matter dates back to 2020, when I received a protected disclosure. It was a very large protected disclosure. I forwarded it to the Health and Safety Authority, HSA, and brought it to the attention of the then Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Varadkar. I received a reply in December 2021 to the effect that the HSA had assured the then Tánaiste that all the matters were being dealt with. That was not the case, unfortunately, and whistleblowers kept coming forward. It is ironic that we are talking about protected disclosures when Deputy Mairéad Farrell and I worked on a protected disclosure with the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, in order to get it over the line.
The HSA has not done its job properly. Health and safety in this area was mentioned as long ago as 19 March 2022 in a motion adopted by Cork City Council. The latter raised the concerns relating to this issue. The matter went to the Labour Court before that in the context of recognition of the union in order that it could deal with issues of health and safety. That was as long ago as 11 October 2019.
There was an incident on 23 May 2019, 25 May 2019, 26 May 2019, 9 July 2019 and 18 July 2019. On 26 August, four people got violently sick in the cleaning rooms. On 3 September 2019 there was another incident. On 2 October 2019 there was another incident. On 2 November 2019 there was another incident. On 10 January 2020 there was another incident. On 17 January 2020 there was another incident. On 6 March 2020 there was another incident.
As I said already, I commend the whistleblowers for coming forward. This was a major concern for health and safety. I, like every other public representative in this House, am duty-bound when I get those protected disclosures to bring them forward. There was a very unfortunate incident at the start of this week and I am conscious of it. I am by no means anti-jobs or anything, but my heart and stomach sank when I heard of that accident, knowing that all this information was with the HSA and the Department. Obviously, these things were not carried out.
We are dealing here with titanium dust and titanium fires. I went to the county fire service, which does not have the capability to put out these titanium fires. There is a myriad of misinformation. The company rejects everything in the protected disclosures, but the evidence is there in the protected disclosures. I followed it up with the HSA in September 2021, which on behalf of the chief executive confirmed to me that everything was kosher. I returned to him to say I had 60 more complaints. It is not being done. I followed up again with a parliamentary question on 22 February. I did get a response, which stated:
The Health and Safety Authority does not comment on the content or nature of disclosures received and carries out its obligations under the Protected Disclosures Act independently of the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
I am calling for a proper, intense, full safety review of the HSA going back from 2019 to the present day, because too many people have been affected by this. Jobs are possibly at risk, but there is also a fear that people will lose their lives.
4:35 pm
Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta. I really appreciate Deputy Buckley bringing forward this matter and for the contributions he has made before the House this evening, which are timely, appropriate and stark.
First, my thoughts are with the workers who were seriously injured at the Stryker plant in Cork earlier this week, with their families, with their co-workers and with all those who know them. I can only imagine the shock they are experiencing and they are all in my thoughts and prayers. I wish both workers the very best as they undergo treatment for their injuries. The family of the seriously injured worker has described him as a kind, mild-mannered family man, with a loving wife, a baby, a young child and a stepson who are his world. My thoughts are with him and his whole support system as they navigate this truly awful experience.
Like Deputy Buckley, I share a core value I think everyone in this House should and does share, namely, that everyone deserves to feel safe at work, both physically and mentally. Unfortunately, this was not the case for these two men. I also thank the Deputy for raising the issue, because it is important to make clear how seriously my Department and I take incidents like this and others that have been mentioned.
As the Deputy knows, the Health and Safety Authority has already commenced an investigation on this. I can assure him this investigation will be thorough and the HSA will take whatever action it deems appropriate. Stryker is working with the HSA on this investigation and I want to stress that this close engagement must be maintained throughout the investigation and beyond. It should go without saying that every worker in Ireland is entitled to a safe working environment and, crucially, every employer is legally obliged to provide this environment.
As the Deputy knows, the HSA offers advice, support and guidance to all employers and workers on how to ensure they have a safe place of work. The HSA also has a range of extensive investigative and enforcement actions available to it when dealing with employers on workplace health and safety matters. Companies have a huge role to play here in upholding these rules and regulations. I must stress that the HSA is fully independent in carrying out its statutory functions. When it comes to the specific details of the incident this week in Stryker that the Deputy raised, we must wait for the conclusion of that investigation.
The Deputy makes clear remarks that are separate from the exact title of this Topical Issue, which require a response and analysis from me and my Department officials, on the nature of protected disclosures and the Deputy's call for a full safety audit covering the years 2019 to 2023. I will take that under advice and I give the Deputy the solemn commitment that I will bring that back to the Department and have that reflection. I will do that in the confines and restrictions of legislation governing this and the duty of the HSA to act as an independent statutory body. I take that seriously.
I say to all Deputies, and as Deputy Buckley has indicated himself, where they have dealings with a whistleblower and where they are in receipt of a protected disclosure, they should of course bring that forward and we will respond to it appropriately in government. Where we have to work together, we should and we will. That is something I undertake to do on the floor of the House this evening with Deputy Buckley. Hopefully, incidents like those we have seen in Stryker will be very rare going forward and, most importantly, those who are injured and affected recover as best as possible and as quickly as possible.
Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response and his honesty. He is right; we can all work together on this. This is the most important thing about it. I am passionate about workers' rights, health and safety, protected disclosures and what has happened in the last year and a half.
We are all very lucky to be elected here. The Minister of State knows as well as I do that when you get a protected disclosure you are duty-bound to report it. We put faith in those organisations to which they are reported, but the results that came back were not what they should have been. We have to be very conscious of the family in the hospital today and the other injured individual and his family, as well as the 4,500 workers and their families.
It is a major concern that when we try so hard to do the right thing, and I have said it so many times here, that sometimes when you try to help people and tell the truth you get punished for it. Those whistleblowers were brave enough and they have suffered; I tell the Minister of State that straight out. This is what made me really aggrieved. I am still sick to my stomach when I am talking to the Minister of State here. We know accidents happen, but if things had happened a lot sooner, as I listed them out and many of which have been documented in the public domain, in the press and in the media, I should not be here today speaking about this. I would love to work with the Minister of State. I will give him the full protected disclosure again. I will give him everything I have on file if he is willing to look at it because I do think there has been a possible miscarriage of justice here between employees, employers, those who have been affected in the past who have not been dealt with and those who are suffering right now.
Again, my heart goes out to that young family today. However, we should not be discussing this in this Chamber. This is why we have legislation. We are supposed to have regulatory measures in place and I am bewildered that I had to come into this Chamber to raise this as a Topical Issue at such as sensitive time for families. I am also duty-bound as a public representative to do my job, which I will do to the best of my ability, and I will work with the Minister of State on it.
Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I fully accept the Deputy's bona fides on this. Having been alongside him for seven years in the Oireachtas, I have seen his commitment to workers' rights and to health and safety in the workplace, which has followed from his own long professional experience in this area working across the trades and much else. The assurance I will give the Deputy on the floor of the House is that whatever the HSA needs from the Department in order to allow it to carry out this independent investigation fully and thoroughly will be provided. The Department and this Government will never be lacking in providing the independent agency of the State with those resources to make sure it carries out a full, detailed investigation into this particular incident the Deputy brings our attention to this evening.
I also want to say, crucially, that I will work with the Deputy. There have been number of accusations made there and more details have been provided, and I fully-----
Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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It is all in black and white.
Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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-----respect and appreciate the Deputy's bona fides. I acknowledge how well documented they are. I do not want to pre-judge anything, and nor should I while I am sitting in this chair. However, I will absolutely work with the Deputy on this. Where we need to and can bring it forward, I hope we can do so together collaboratively, because when it comes to an issue as important as workplace safety and at a time of such sensitivity for two families in the constituency of the Deputy and the Acting Chair, it is our responsibility to work closer together than ever before. I look forward to picking this up directly with the Deputy in due course. I sincerely thank the Deputy again for bringing this before the House.