Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. It is good to see him here for Leaders' Questions. I am not sure if this is his regular slot or whether it is a consequence of his decision to join People Before Profit but I look forward to some interesting exchanges in the months ahead.

Let me be very clear. I do not have the slightest interest in beef barons. I have never met a beef baron. I do not know what a beef baron looks like, quite frankly. That is a populist conspiracy theory and it has no legitimacy whatsoever.

With regard to meat plants, meat plants are a high risk environment, and not just in Ireland. We have seen very serious outbreaks occur in meat plants all over the world, in Europe and in America. As we learn more and more about the virus we know that it is to do with the conditions in the plant itself more so than living conditions or transport, although they can be part of the picture. It is also to do with the air, the speed, the flow and the fact that people can be in quite close quarters and that often there is a lot of noise. That is why we now understand that they are a high risk environment. There had been thoughts previously that it was related to living conditions and transport but that does not seem to be the major factor because people living in similar conditions do not have as high a rate of contracting Covid.

In terms of what we are doing about it, for a start we are doing serial testing. The Deputy acknowledged that we are carrying out serial testing in our meat plants. I understand that the incidence is low. I do not have the exact figures now but I believe it may be substantially lower than 3% or 4%, which is the current rate in our community for symptomatic people.

I think it may even be less than 1%. It is encouraging that the number of positive cases is so low. I think there is an opportunity for greater use of antigen testing in meat plants and other workplaces. It is happening in construction. Kerry Group and Combilift are doing it. I would like to see the meat industry doing it as well if it is not already doing so.

As for sick pay, it is really important we get this message across: anyone, no matter where they work, is entitled to the enhanced illness benefit if they have Covid or symptoms of Covid, if they are waiting for a test or a test result or if they have been told by the HSE or their GP to self-isolate. The benefit is €350 per week and can be paid for up to ten weeks. It is important that this message comes across because sometimes I think that when workers hear they are not entitled to sick pay, they think that means they are entitled to nothing. That is not true. Any employee, any worker, no matter where he or she works, is entitled to €350 per week in the enhanced illness benefit. We are bringing through legislation to extend sick pay to all workers, something I am determined to do, having built on other things I have done in the past: extending social insurance rights to the self-employed, which I did as Minister for Social Protection and as Taoiseach; increasing the minimum wage to be one of the highest in Europe; and bringing in things such as paternity benefit and parental leave. These are real things we have actually done for workers, something I do not think Deputy Murphy claims to have done. Added to that now will be sick pay, and we anticipate having that legislation done this year.

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