Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise the recent CSO statistics with the Minister. The CSO identified a slight decline in cases of the virus in cities but an increase in the number of cases in urban towns. It examined the figures for counties like Cavan and Monaghan. The number of cases hit its peak in April when Cavan had a high of 182 cases per week and Monaghan recorded 176 new cases per week. According to the CSO, this may have reflected "the move out of the cities and into independent urban towns".

Obviously, there could have been a number of reasons for these numbers. Cavan and Monaghan are near the Border and there are different protocols on the other side. Nevertheless, there is a possible link with meat processing plants, but we lack a study or information on this possibility that is in any way meaningful. There are 45 meat processing plants in rural Ireland, up to 16 of which have clusters. Recently, the Department of Health reported a further 100 confirmed cases in meat plants. SIPTU's Mr. Greg Ennis labelled these figures "absolutely shocking and most disturbing".

Despite protestations from the Ministers involved whom we questioned about this matter, there are high degrees of exploitation of workers in these plants. There has been a lack of concern for their health. In a strong interview by The Guardianof some of the workers, one said: "If the disease was in the animals, they'd have closed the place." Not so with the workers, though, most of whom are migrants.

We gave been given assurances that this situation will change or has changed, but we are not convinced that any such change will be adequate. It is still difficult to find out whether any meat plant has been inspected by the HSE, where the inspected plants are and how many they number. Our concern is that we are blind to what is happening and could happen, not just in those plants but in the communities surrounding them.

I was slagged about quoting a piece of research and was told that it came from Trump's America, but it actually comes from an internationally renowned university called Johns Hopkins University and the Government should take it seriously. The research showed that counties within 15 miles of meat packaging plants had twice the national average rate of Covid-19 cases. This was explained as owing to the interaction between workers and communities and the high incidence of Covid within the plants.

Will the Minister raise this concern at Cabinet? Will he seek for the Cabinet or the State to investigate the pattern of outbreaks around the 45 meat plants? This morning, I heard a Monaghan GP raise this very concern on radio. She did not raise a concern about the meat plants, but she said that she had seen a level of reportage of Covid within her clinic that was as high as when the outbreak started. She is concerned about it.

We have been told repeatedly since the start of the crisis how important the industry is and how important the plants are to rural communities, but those communities themselves are important and they need to know whether the level of infection in the plants is spilling over into their communities and how that will impact on them. Will the Minister reassure them that this concern will be taken seriously by the Cabinet and there will be an investigation into the statistics on all 45 sites and the level of infection in the communities surrounding them?

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