Many quarry owners in Co Donegal did not seem to be aware of the safety and health legislation governing such enterprises, the High Court was told yesterday.
The remarks, by counsel James O'Donnell, was made days after a nine-year-old boy died in an accident in a quarry at Annagry, Co Donegal.
Mr O'Donnell, for Barnes Limestone Quarry Ltd, Termon, Co Donegal, which was closed down by the High Court last week, said the boy had been killed in another quarry not associated with his client.
Joseph McDermott died in the Annagry quarry accident last Tuesday evening. He had been with his father, who had been delivering oil to the quarry when a pile of stones had collapsed on him.
Mr O'Donnell successfully applied for a variation in the closure injunction against the Barnes quarry to allow an engineer enter the quarry and investigate what type of safety guards should be fitted to machinery there. The variation also allows the entry to the site of a geologist to examine the quarry face.
Barnes quarry was closed down by order of the High Court on August 19th on the application of the National Authority for Occupational Safety and Health.
The court had been told the quarry had failed to stop using a crunching and screening machine that had been the subject of a prohibition notice, which had been served on quarry owner Patrick Bonar by the authority.
Yesterday Mr Justice Declan Budd varied the earlier order to allow inspections to take place.
He heard that 23 jobs were at risk because every day the Barnes quarry remained closed affected the financial viability of the quarry.