Representatives of Congress, the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment Damien English TD, Trade Union Leaders, business and employment groups, and the Health and Safety Authority participated in an International Workers’ Memorial Day event in Dublin on Thursday, April 28th.
The ceremony was also attended by Marian Deasy, the mother of 31-year-old Lorcan Deasy who lost his life in a construction incident in Kiltimagh, Co Mayo in 2018.
In a solemn memorial event with music and poetry, Ms. Deasy laid a wreath and flowers at the Garden of Remembrance flanked by a Workers' Honour Guard in uniform.
After she placed a wreath in the company of the Minister of State, at a statue of the Children of Lir, flowers were cast onto the sunken water feature in the garden. There was a musical lament on the violin while a minute’s silence was observed to remember the over 490 people who have died in work-related incidents since 2012.
Family member Bryan Deasy recalled the loss, pain, and grief that his brother Lorcan’s death had caused his parents Marian and Michael, and his own children’s tears when he had to break news to them of their uncle’s death.
Mr. Deasy said ‘the impact of Lorcan’s death cannot be fully expressed in the few lines I’ve spoken here today, along with the families of all those killed in workplace accidents in this country over the years, words aren’t enough to sooth our pain. Words will not bring them back and words will not prevent others from experiencing what we as a family have had to endure over the last 4 years’.
He said ‘my family’s wish is that those with responsibility for Health and Safety in businesses throughout the country put it to the top of their priorities, as our loved ones were at the top of ours’.‘In our case we’ve had to come to terms with the loss of a son, a brother, an uncle, a grandson, a nephew, a cousin and a partner. All these relationships are a reminder that Lorcan’s death caused pain and loss to a wide circle of family and friends’, he said.
In his speech, Congress President Kevin Callinan said ‘since 2012, when we first started to mark this day, over 490 people have died in work-related incidents. But we are also aware that, over the last 2 years, we have lost too many front-line workers in the face of a cruel pandemic. So today we remember all those who have been lost while doing their jobs'.
Mr. Callinan said ‘we call not for a reduction in deaths in our workplaces. We want to eliminate them entirely. The European Trade Union Confederation, to which Congress is affiliated, is today launching a “Zero Deaths” at work campaign’. There will always be new challenges for health & safety.
Even today, he said ‘we are dealing with issues arising from new technology, from climate change and from remote working that we had not thought of 5 years ago. And we realise all too well now the threats presented by viral infections. But let us now commit to accepting the challenge of Zero Deaths by 2030. Let us aim to no longer need a Workers’ Memorial Day after that’, he said.
