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

It was remiss of me not to thank all of those working in the meat plants because it was one of the sectors, as the witnesses highlighted in their remarks, that kept going throughout the height of the pandemic. This should be acknowledged. Whatever scheme the employer or the State looks at it is certainly warranted to acknowledge appreciation.

Ms McGinley said that not all factories and companies are in the same boat. We are having quite a pessimistic conversation about the meat sector but it does not involve every factory. In saying this, there are some that are particularly persistent with light-touch regulation and those are the ones we need to home in on. It has also been mentioned that there could be some undocumented workers and, particularly with the advance notification of inspections, people being told not to come in or conveniently going off shift for a little while. Will the witnesses speak about the evidence they have of this or the experiences they have been told about to enlighten us on these issues?