Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms McGinley and Ms McKeown for their attendance today as well as for their contributions and opening statements which were enlightening and are much appreciated.

This issue, as they are well aware, that came to public prominence at the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic. In my own constituency of Dún Laoghaire we do not have meat processing plants. It does not directly affect my area but that is not a reason to be here or not to be here. I welcome the fact Migrant Rights Centre Ireland is here and this is a very good forum in which to air the issues they have highlighted. I would go so far as to say that this is not, unfortunately, isolated to meat processing or any type of industry for that matter.

Looking at this from the point of view of the work permits, which Ms McGinley touched on in her remarks, reform needs to happen because as she highlighted the employees are very much attached to the employer. That in itself brings issues. It is fine if the employer is a good employer but there is a huge problem with the not so good ones. That needs to be dealt with across the board.

Could Ms McGinley and Ms McKeown elaborate on sectoral work permits and how they envisage those, particularly for non-EU workers?

They also touched on the HSA inspections. Do they know how many were carried out during the height of the pandemic, bearing in mind that Ms McGinley gave a date of, I think, 15 May for guidelines being issued? On those guidelines, we are talking about people who feel isolated and cut off and almost beholden to the employer or the business they work for. Are the witnesses aware of those guidelines being issued in different languages? I am not aware of whether they were, and that is why I am asking.

Ms McGinley and Ms McKeown might answer those questions and I might then come back in with some others.