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With reference to its observation, the Committee draws the Government’s attention to the following points.

Articles 6 and 10 of the Convention. Number and conditions of employment of labour inspectors. The Committee notes with concern that 13 labour inspectors, three inspectors of the Occupational Health and Safety Authority and ten inspectors in the Department of Industrial and Employment Relations have left their jobs to take up employment in the private sector, where conditions of employment are more attractive. It observes that only seven of them have been replaced. With reference to paragraphs 201–224 of its General Survey of 2006 on labour inspection concerning the status and conditions of service of labour inspectors, the Committee draws the Government’s attention in particular to paragraph 209, in which it emphasizes that the remuneration of labour inspectors has to reflect the importance and specificities of their duties and take account of personal merit, as well as paragraph 216 in which it considers that career prospects that take into account seniority and personal merit are essential to attract and especially to retain qualified and motivated staff in labour inspectorates. The Committee urges the Government to take measures rapidly to ensure that all vacant posts in the inspectorate are filled as soon as possible and that the conditions of service of the profession as a whole are reviewed with a view to their adjustment so as to attract and retain sufficient numbers and motivated staff. It requests the Government to keep the ILO informed of any progress in this respect and of any difficulties encountered.

Article 21. Contents of the annual report. The Committee notes that the annual report on inspection activities does not contain statistics on the workplaces liable to inspection, in the absence of which it is impossible to assess the coverage rate of the labour inspection services and the adequacy of the number of inspectors in relation to needs. Furthermore, the data on violations of the legislation are fairly brief and do not provide indications on the nature of the violations or the action taken as a result. The report confines itself to indicating in this respect that 126 claims were issued giving rise to fines totalling €122,809.58. The Committee requests the Government to refer to its general observations of 1996, 2007 and 2009 and to take measures to enable the central inspection authority to publish and communicate to the Office an annual report containing all the information required under the terms of Article 21 of the Convention as recommended in Paragraph 9 of the Labour Inspection Recommendation, 1947 (No. 81).

Labour inspection and child labour. In light of the data provided, the Committee notes with interest that the number of reported cases of violations of the minimum age legislation fell from 52 cases in 2005–06 to 24 cases in
2008–09. Further to its previous comment, the Committee once again requests the Government to provide detailed information on the labour inspection activities carried out in collaboration with the Directorate for Educational Services and their results.