Ms Clare Dunne:

There are a variety of reasons and I can only list some of them. Some of this work is difficult work. Fruit picking, for example, is not easy. Employers here and in the UK are finding that many of the people living locally do not want to do these jobs. The positions are not at the higher end of the pay scale and would be lower wage-type jobs. As we have seen a pick-up in economic circumstances across the EU, many people do not want to travel from what would have been the traditional sources of migrant labour such as Bulgaria, for example. Some of the horticulture companies still attract significant numbers of workers from Bulgaria every year but are finding it increasingly difficult to do so. Having spoken with the sector and having engaged with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, there is sufficient evidence for us on that.