This is a subscriber-only article
Leader of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) Denis Drennan has spoken against the cross-reporting of farm health and safety or employment breaches to the Department of Agriculture.
Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon announced on Tuesday that findings of breaches on farm safety and employment rules will be reported to the Department, which may levy penalties against farmers’ direct payments.
Drennan claimed that “farmers could end up paying twice for the same breach”, which is “demonstrably unfair”.
“We continuously hear politicians telling us that they are going to simplify the system and eliminate duplication,” he said.
“If that’s the case, why have we ended up with this kind of duplication into an already overly complex system.”
Breaches
On-farm breaches will now be flagged by the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) and the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) to the Department.
“The WRC and HSA have specific important responsibilities under legislation and they have a job to do,” Drennan stated.
“Why is the Department – who are already barely able to administer their own affairs and schemes - moving into these obviously separate areas.”
The ICMSA president said that he does not “understand or agree with a system that has farmers fined twice for the same breach”.
“This can’t be right and we’d ask the Department to look again very hard at what is blatantly a case of punishing twice for the same transgression.”
SHARING OPTIONS: