Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It appears that the balls always fall right for the meat factories in all of this, and I have said this to the Minister's predecessor. The Minister will recall during the Covid period that Deputy Naughten revealed the factories had received tests results of some of the workers before the workers themselves. The Minister asked if we are aware of any individual concerns around the workers. The workers in a lot of these factories are scared stiff to talk to anybody. We have a situation where the companies operate behind a veil. They are unlimited companies, usually based through myriad schemes in Luxembourg or some other third country. It is incredibly hard to get any answers. When a body agrees to look into matters, as the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission did last year, the companies respond with what I can only describe as an insulting letter to those who put the queries, and it was admitted through FOI that they had not actually asked the meat factories any questions. The Minister can see where the concerns are.

See this speech in context