Results 7,821-7,840 of 11,255 for speaker:Colm Burke

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Impact of Covid-19: Education – Return to School and School Transport (Resumed) (10 Jul 2020)

Colm Burke: Are we talking about up to 500 schools where we may have a challenge with getting everyone back?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Impact of Covid-19: Education – Return to School and School Transport (Resumed) (10 Jul 2020)

Colm Burke: What is the biggest stumbling block the Department will come across between now and September in dealing with this issue?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Meat Plants (10 Jul 2020)

Colm Burke: I will take ten, although I might not use all of them. I thank the witnesses for their presentation. I will deal with one or two of the issues they raised. Regarding the disclosure to employers about workers testing positive, is there any evidence that the HSE was experiencing difficulty, in that, if it told an employee that he or she had tested positive, the employee was still going to...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Meat Plants (10 Jul 2020)

Colm Burke: Has the centre looked for an explanation from the HSE as to why it went directly to the employers?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Meat Plants (10 Jul 2020)

Colm Burke: So there is not an explanation as to why the information was disclosed to employers first rather than to the employees.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Meat Plants (10 Jul 2020)

Colm Burke: Does Ms McGinley accept that if someone was identified as being positive and did not take advice, that there was a duty of care and that employers should have been notified?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Meat Plants (10 Jul 2020)

Colm Burke: Did Ms McGinley correspond with the HSE on this matter?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Meat Plants (10 Jul 2020)

Colm Burke: Would it not be wise to do so? Perhaps the committee might correspond with the HSE on this matter because I do not think we were given an explanation as to why the employers were notified first and it is an important issue.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Meat Plants (10 Jul 2020)

Colm Burke: But I do not think a full explanation was given.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Meat Plants (10 Jul 2020)

Colm Burke: We got a submission from Meat Industry Ireland saying that it was dealing with its members from 12 March on in approximately 50 plants across the country. It said that it was putting measures in place long before the HSE contacted it. Have the witnesses seen any evidence that measures of any description were put in place from 12 March on?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Meat Plants (10 Jul 2020)

Colm Burke: I think there are approximately 50 plants around the country dealing with meat processing and they are owned by different groups. Was there a clear difference in approach by the groups or did the approach depend on who was managing the factories?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Meat Plants (10 Jul 2020)

Colm Burke: Is there not a clear differentiation between various groups? For example, a group that owns six factories could adopt the same approach across the six factories but in the case of another group it might depend on who was managing the factory as opposed to the company that owned the factories.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Meat Plants (10 Jul 2020)

Colm Burke: I wish to focus on an issue the witnesses raised in their report. I accept that reference was not made to it this morning but it is an important issue. It is that some people who work in meat factories are employed by agencies, as opposed to the factories themselves. How wide a problem is that and what new problems is that creating for the workers?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Meat Plants (10 Jul 2020)

Colm Burke: Is there one particular area of the country where this is an issue or is it across the entire country?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Meat Plants (10 Jul 2020)

Colm Burke: On the rights of people employed by an agency as opposed to by the factory itself, their rights are not the same. Can we identify what needs to be done in this area to make sure people have the same rights, whether they are employed by an agency or by the owner of the factory directly?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Meat Plants (10 Jul 2020)

Colm Burke: The report that has come back from the employers is to effect that some 97% of workers have returned to work. Is that consistent with the witnesses' evidence on this issue? Have any follow-on problems arisen for people who were out because of Covid, such as loss of earnings or loss of holiday pay? Is there evidence of that occurring, from the witnesses' investigations?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Meat Plants (10 Jul 2020)

Colm Burke: The employers tell us they have now provided guidance in the languages workers speak. I think there are about ten different languages used by workers because they come from a number of different countries. Have the witnesses seen evidence that the proper translation has occurred in relation to guidance, health and safety and so on? Is all of that information in the language of the...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Meat Plants (10 Jul 2020)

Colm Burke: I thank the witnesses.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Meat Plants (Resumed) (10 Jul 2020)

Colm Burke: I thank the witnesses for their presentation on the meat sector and industry. This may have been answered already but I did not pick it up. I understand there are approximately 50 meat processing plants across the country. Of those 50 units, how many were identified as having employees with Covid?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Meat Plants (Resumed) (10 Jul 2020)

Colm Burke: There are quite a number of plants where Covid was not identified. What did those plants do differently compared with the 22 where it was identified? What measures did they take at an early stage? If the virus did not come into those plants they obviously had safety measures in place at an earlier stage.