Mr. Cormac Healy:

I will respond to those points. First, I thank the Senator for recognising the positives around meat plants in local areas. They are major economic drivers. Our members’ plants are located throughout rural Ireland. They are not within the M50, they are in small towns and rural areas throughout almost every county in the country, and in many towns they are probably the main employer and the main driver of economic activity. It is good to hear that being recognised.

The Senator asked about the position on Covid protocols. From the get-go of this pandemic in March and April of last year, the industry had to put and was putting protocols in place. This was when we were all learning about Covid, as a country and as a world, and the industry put many controls and mitigation measures in place at that time.

As we progressed through last summer, the HSE developed specific guidelines for the processing sector. These continue to be updated, implemented and checked by virtue of Health and Safety Authority, HSA, inspections. We also have a permanent Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine presence in our plants while they are in operation. Those guidelines continue to be implemented.

On testing and timing, the HSE-led serial testing programme, which is using the PCR test, has been running nationally since the end of August last year. Monthly cycles of testing are carried out. The programme covers between 90 and 95 primary and secondary processing plants across Ireland. As I said, almost 165,000 tests have been completed, with a positivity rate over the full period of 0.79%. In the most recent cycle, the rate stands at 0.36%.

Senator Ahearn is right. I try to point out on behalf of the sector, because it is an issue on which we are focused, that community testing in pop-up centres is showing positivity rates of close to 4%. This testing is comparable because it involves a mix of the population, not just those who may believe they have symptoms. The meat industry has put itself in a credible position in respect of this and that view would be backed up by the HSE. The ongoing testing in our plants means we are also picking up community based positive results. Our testing is picking those up.

As the Senator said, there is considerable discussion of rapid testing. Deputy Shanahan mentioned it also in the context of the construction industry. We engaged with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the HSE in pilot evaluation of rapid antigen tests throughout January. A significant volume of work was carried out on those and the authorities, the HSE in particular, were satisfied that these tests could be used. As has been described, rapid antigen testing is a further control against Covid-19. It has been rolled out in recent weeks across plants, which are still doing the PCR testing with the HSE but at intermittent stages along the way. If there are any concerns, rapid antigen testing can be deployed to get a quick result. If there is a concern about an individual, he or she can be taken out of the site or the situation as quickly as possible. That is the purpose of rapid antigen testing. It is just a further tool to mitigate against Covid.