Mr. Pat Farrell:

As everyone knows, accommodation is still a major problem and the situation has probably deteriorated slightly. We assist our seasonal and other workers in finding accommodation and so on. It is a matter of public record that we went to Fingal County Council, which, in fairness, was unique on this, made proposals and gave outline planning for bespoke accommodation for seasonal horticultural workers. We have not progressed that further because of limitations such as the fact that, similar to when I talked about the level playing field, the accommodation would need to be excellent and fulfil all of a person’s needs. We all want the best of accommodation, but some of the standards or the protocol make it prohibitively expensive to build bespoke accommodation. Without kicking to touch on this question, we ask members to look at what is done in the Netherlands or Germany, for example, where legislation has provided for bespoke accommodation for seasonal workers, and everyone agrees it is up to standard. It is fair and is very suitable for workers. Maybe some of that could be introduced into Irish legislation by looking at very good examples on the Continent, especially in northern Europe, where it is common to have bespoke accommodation for seasonal workers. That could be built into our legislation in order that if someone applies to build bespoke accommodation, it will have to fit certain standards. At the moment, the standards in Ireland make it prohibitively expensive to go ahead with doing it.