Mr. Joe Ryan:

The Senator asked about the course for knifemen. I will give her the context. We received 300 or 360 knifemen work permits in 2015. The Skillnet course on knifing and boning started at about that time. I would need to check, but I estimate that approximately 600 people have gone through that course in the past two years. The Senator should bear in mind that every site has a limited number of knifemen. They are not the largest number of personnel in each plant; there are only six or seven knifemen in any one plant.

Regarding wider Skillnet programmes on hazardous analysis and critical control point, HACCP, food regulations, quality control, Lean Six Sigma, sales and so on, hundreds of people go through those courses annually. They are done using a blended model across the food industry whereby companies send three or four people or the courses are run in-house and on-site.