Mr. Damian McDonald:

On the work permit issue, there were obviously bad experiences before in how work permits were operating and nobody wants to be associated or to have anything to do with that type of behaviour. This is an issue we will have to grasp. As some speakers have said, even if we were to roll it out on a fixed number basis for a start, there are models that could be looked at. A seasonal horticultural workers scheme operated before where workers came in and were placed through a body, which was Macra na Feirme at the time, that was authorised by the Department to provide oversight to the scheme. It brought in the workers and placed them on farms. If there were issues, that organisation could intercede in those and make sure that if workers had any problems, they had options to come back into the system and be moved to another farm. Problems arose where somebody was tied to a particular employer as a condition of getting his or her work permit. That works in most cases, but unfortunately the bad cases get highlighted.

We are open to looking at innovative ideas to do this but it is a nettle that we have to grasp quickly because it is an increasing problem in our sector and in other sectors as well. We had more positive engagement by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation when we last met but we need to get on with it. I know that farms face huge problems this spring, particularly dairy farms. In our sector, cows have to be milked. We are dealing with animals. Some businesses can close down for the summer. For example, a construction business might not build an extra unit. In our case, however, we have cows, they will calve, milk will be produced and, even from a farm safety perspective, relief labour is a huge issue on farms now. Something could be done pretty quickly with a bit of innovative thinking, and mechanisms to give additional safeguards are available.