Ms Bríd McKeown:

I would say the majority of workers are employed directly by their employer. There is an emerging issue around agency workers, mainly worked on by the Independent Workers Union in Cork. It is seeing this issue across different sectors, not just meat. Some problems with agency workers arise from the fact that their rights are often controlled by the agency. They live in agency-provided accommodation and during Covid they were threatened with eviction if they raised issues around health and safety concerns or general working conditions.