Mr. Cormac Healy:

On the Deputy's second question, I am not aware. On the first question, all I can say is that, as the Deputy rightly states, much has been said but it does not mean that it is all accurate. What we are here to say, on behalf of the members we represent in Meat Industry Ireland, is that there has been a huge effort. Whether people realise it or not, we have gone through a situation since we met here on 10 July where there were no cases and we now have one outbreak that is a substantial outbreak. Work continues to be done. Therefore, it is unfair to say that we are at the core of all of this. We continue to work on this.

The reality is we worked throughout this pandemic as an essential service. There have been outbreaks and the stringent measures and controls have been reinforced. We have some of the best recommendations and protocols from around Europe in relation to that. They are being stringently enforced. We have got ourselves to a situation throughout those two months where we had approximately five cases up to 4 August. We have had this outbreak. We have to drive even harder now. Not all the answers are there for us in relation to that but it is unfair to say that it is all at our door.