Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I again thank Ms Ward for her patience this afternoon. I want to follow up on the point raised by Deputy O'Reilly. As a union organiser, my personal experience with meat factories is that these people cannot translate their contracts. They have no one available to do it for them. They do not understand English in many cases so even finding the website is not practical for them. The factories actively discourage workers, to the point of firing them, from joining a union or seeking union support. Can Ms Ward understand the reasons for my concern about the likelihood that these people would be exploited?

I will give an example. At the end of a 39-hour week, the boss man might say to an employee, "You have to do overtime, regardless of whether you want to, because we are your employer and you are not allowed work anywhere else." That happens. By the way, it is not overtime paid at time and a half or double time; it is flat rate overtime. Does Ms Ward understand my concerns?