Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I would like to make two points. I have been following the farmers who have been standing outside the distribution areas of factories, conglomerates and supermarkets in the hope that they will be given a fair deal. They are still not getting a fair deal. Visas for workers with essential skills are being given to people who are going to work in these factories as animal boners, but such visas are still not being given to healthcare assistants. I have mentioned this seven or eight times in the last three or four months. I repeat that I would like the Minister to be brought to the House to set out the progress that is being made in giving skilled worker visas to healthcare workers to assist the ageing population here in Ireland. We are good at offering such visas to assist highly profitable conglomerates, meat factories and supermarkets. When I think of them, I think of the word "greed".I am very much behind the farmers because we forget at our peril that this is an agricultural country. We keep calling it something else, but it is an agricultural country. If we spent more time getting rid of plastic and less time talking about farting cows, we would be better off.