Mr. Greg Ennis:

In response to Deputy Durkan, in short, "No". I am far from happy and I will give him the reasons with regard to Kildare that he mentioned. We have a situation in meat plants in Kildare where lines are shut down, for example, and 50% of the workers have tested positive and are taken out of the workplace. That is fine, but we have other workers in that meat plant dealing with a different product who are tested and then sent back in to deal with perishable product - product of value. They then get the results four days later and they are told that they have Covid-19. That is unforgivable. That is a real issue that should never be repeated.

The second point I would make is that we are too slow to get test results, and I believe that is still the case this week in Kildare. The issue of the HSA inspections needs to be drilled in once and for all because we are not happy with the number of unannounced visits. I believe there are very few, if any, and the HSA needs to be pressed on that. Looking forward, however, in terms of trying to fix this, because we have to fix it, I suggest we need to bring in what I have termed Covid compliance officers with the sole responsibility for policing Covid-19 within the meat industry. Those designated officers possibly should come from the HSA inspectorate and if it needs to be beefed up, we must beef it up - no pun intended. We have to ensure we deal with this issue because what has happened in Kildare, and in other counties, for the past number of months is not acceptable. We are too slow to get test results. We need the HSA to be doing what it is paid to do. We need Covid compliance officers. At the end of the day, I am not at all satisfied with what has happened. We cannot prioritise profits over the health and safety of our workers.