Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses. I come from the town of Cahir in Tipperary, with which Mr. Healy will be familiar. It is a town with a high percentage of non-nationals who are predominantly working in the meat factory just outside Cahir. It has challenges, like every workplace, including a number of those that have been brought up today. However, it is important to highlight some of the good work that is done. There is huge engagement between the meat factory and the community in Cahir in terms of integration and bringing people together. It is important to acknowledge that does happen and that it is not all bad things. There is a lot of employment there for non-nationals but also for Irish people.

A number of speakers brought up Covid outbreaks. It is important, when we talk about outbreaks, that we do not blame people. It is quite easy to blame some workplaces for outbreaks but we do not do it for schools or hospitals where outbreaks happen. The important thing is whether the industry acts properly when outbreaks happen and the witnesses might give an answer on that. Are there protocols in place? Have they always been in place in order that when outbreaks occur in factories, the right measures are taken on the back of that?

The witnesses spoke briefly on serial testing and PCR. This is something that those who are critical of the industry have been calling for every workplace to do. Mr. Healy gave figures of a positivity rate of 0.36%, whereas it is about 3% nationally at present. How long has that been in place for workers and how has it been going since then? It is something we are hoping a lot of other workplaces will bring in.

I have a question for Ms McGinley with regard to critical skills, an issue also raised by Deputy Stanton. It makes total sense for critical skills to be redefined after the last year. We have seen front-line workers who might not have been perceived as front-line workers, as Mr. Bruton said in his contribution, and people who work in the meat industry are a typical example, in that they kept people fed over the last year. With regard to family reunification, how will that process start? How is it done in the critical skills sector and is that exactly how the witnesses would like it to be done in this sector?