A sit-in by workers in Tara Mines in County Meath is continuing.

The staff in the mine highlighted their concerns over health and safety following a unilateral move by the company to change the operation of the underground ambulance cover at the facility.

Siptu the union Organiser, John Regan, said: "The workers in Tara Mines felt that they had no option but to take this action. The current agreed ambulance cover has been in place for 35 years. Underground workers of all grades in the company are disappointed that there is an attempt to impose a change to the system without agreement with the workplace safety committee.

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"Concerns around the change include a lack of appropriate training and a move from a phone system to a radio system. Unions say that workers feel radio coverage is not adequate and is not equal to the phone system. It is extraordinary that in a week that Tara Mines complimented its employees for recording a year free from any lost time incidents in the mine, its workers felt compelled to make such a stand concerning a health and safety issue."

(CD/LM)