Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Will the witnesses investigate and find out if that happened? It would demonstrate an imbalance of power if a factory owner felt he or she could do that. It happened since the onset of Covid-19 as the reason given was that women would not have to touch the doors of a toilet when using the bathroom. The fact that women would have to undress and attend to their intimate or personal needs in this way is repulsive.

To borrow a phrase from an earlier committee, I think it is quite disgusting.

I have another question for Meat Industry Ireland. Mr. Healy said that Covid-19 travels through communities into the industrial settings rather than vice versa, which to a degree is true. However, we have heard of workers who are living within their own community. They frequently live in overcrowded conditions and lack the necessary space and privacy we all deserve as human beings. There has been talk of hotbeds where one staff member gets up and another person gets into their bed. I was talking about the balance of power there. These workers are further disadvantaged because they are here in Ireland under the work permit regime. Some 80% of the workers are not born in Ireland; they are foreign workers who have been brought in. They are tied to their employers and their employment. Wage deductions are made for accommodation. It reminds me of the indentured servitude we hear about in the Middle East where migrant workers are abused like this. Mr. Healy said he does not believe agency work is that big a factor. It is called precarious employment. I think it is bogus self-employment.