"Extreme concern" about the deaths this year of eight people in construction-related accidents was expressed yesterday by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA).
Five of the eight have been killed since the beginning of April, putting the sector on course to record an even higher number of fatalities than the 21 who died last year.
That figure sparked widespread concern about safety standards in the industry and prompted building workers to stage nationwide protests in March.
Despite the continuing high rate of deaths, however, building site inspections by the HSA are to be reduced this year by more than a quarter.
The authority blamed this yesterday on its increasing range of responsibilities, and the fact that a growing number of employers are challenging actions against them in the courts. This has resulted in inspectors spending more time preparing for court cases and less time visiting sites, said Mr Jim Heffernan, the HSA's senior construction inspector.
The authority plans to carry out 4,500 site inspections this year, compared to 6,100 in 2002. Mr Heffernan said, however, there would be "no neglect of the sector".
He said it was hard to draw firm conclusions from the fact that eight people had been killed already this year, but it indicated that "things are no better than last year at this stage".
The HSA's figure was challenged, however, by the Construction Industry Federation (CIF), which said the true number of fatalities in the sector was four.
Mr Dermot Carey, safety service executive with the CIF, said one death was too many and he did not wish to over-emphasise statistics.
The reality, however, was that one of the eight deaths referred to by the HSA was of a member of the public, another involved a person carrying out a private "DIY job".
Two were of people doing construction work, but in other sectors.
Four of those who died were employed directly in the construction industry, indicating a slight improvement on last year's fatality rate of five by the end of May, he said.
The industry was doing "an awful lot" to improve safety standards and the HSA figures undermined this, he claimed.
The CIF was in turn sharply criticised by the construction branch secretary of SIPTU, Mr Eric Fleming, who accused the federation of putting "a spin" on the statistics.
"They want to sanitise the figures to such a point that there's nobody killed in a building site," he said.
Mr Fleming was critical of both the HSA, for reducing the number of site inspections, and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, for declining to renew the contracts of two site safety facilitators.
The HSA said the eight fatal accidents to date were:
January 6th: Navan, Co Meath. Meath Member of the public struck by dumper truck.
February 19th: Bray, Co Wicklow. Worker electrocuted.
March 26th: Dungarvan, Co Waterford. Self-employed man crushed by construction vehicle.
April 1st: Roscrea, Co Tipperary. Worker struck by excavator bucket.
April 9th: Ennis, Co Clare. Worker crushed by steel beam while working on gaspipe excavation.
April 14th: Athlacca, Co Limerick. Worker hit by vehicle on construction site.
April 30th: Sligo town. Worker fell from height.
May 2nd: Dingle, Co Kerry. Worker crushed by wooden pole.
