Mr. Joe Ryan:

I will come in on the Deputy's first questions. The turnover of those permit holders in the workforce would be very low. There is some turnover and obviously permit holders can switch employers after a 12-month period. On the Deputy's follow-up question on reducing the 12-month period, the employers go to a great deal of effort in the recruitment process and identifying candidates outside of the EU and EEA market, organising flights and induction programmes. We feel the existing 12-month stipulation is a balanced approach.

The Deputy asked about apprenticeships and, in a wider context, training and development. There are apprenticeships on all members sites in respect of fitters, electricians and refrigeration. In more recent times, there have been apprenticeships for laboratory technicians and logistics. This is something that is certainly being done. In addition to apprenticeships, there is a wide range of other training and development programmes, such as Skillnet programmes on knifing and boning skills or programmes on food safety, hazard analysis and critical control point, HACCP, Lean Six Sigma and IT training, depending on the various roles.

There is a point we might come back to later, which we mentioned it in our opening statement, with regard to progression opportunities for employment permit holders. There are some restrictions and inflexibility in the legislation and system that limit for a period the progression opportunities on the employment permit side. I can come back on this later if the Deputy wants further detail. There are wider training and development opportunities in many roles, be they through in-house training and external providers such as Skillnet.