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Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin described the situation at the meat processing plants as “seriously serious” and expressed concern that the coronavirus groups in the factories were not treated comprehensively.
Martin asked for the factories to be inspected and said he had “alerted the authorities six weeks or two months ago to the dangers of what could happen.”
Rise TD Paul Murphy told the Dáil that 200 complaints had been filed for violations of Covid-19 guidelines in the workplace, including meat plants, but that the Health Safety Authority (HSA) had not conducted inspections.
Last week, the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) reported 10 outbreaks of Covid-19 at meat processing plants with 566 infected employees.
Siptu union organizer Greg Ennis said Thursday that the number of confirmed cases in meat processing plans in the Republic has now exceeded 600.
Mr. Martin said that “the situation with meat plants is very serious and it is not obvious that these groups are being treated comprehensively.
“Without asking for the closure of the sector, it seems very surprising that the general tests of a facility are not interrupted by work until the results are obtained.
“Wouldn’t it be reasonable to stop production for deep cleaning and establish new control measures while awaiting results? Simply sending workers back to work and, in fact, not evaluating their families makes no sense, especially given the Minister’s assurance that evaluation capacity is not an issue.
“There has been a significant lack of transparency on this issue,” he said.
He said the number of infections was high in cities across the country where “normally, there would not have been a high incidence of Covid-19.”
“More needs to be done on this issue. The authorities need to visit the factories to see reality. “
Mr. Murphy later said that a complaint was made to the HSE about Moyvalley Meats “that the sick workers were working and living alongside other workers.”
There were several confirmed cases of coronavirus at the factory. There were reports that “some even doping to keep temperatures down while they were clearly ill, and management turned a blind eye,” said Rise TD.
More than 200 complaints have been filed for noncompliance with the Covid-19 guidelines, but the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) has not conducted workplace inspections, he added.
Murphy said Company Minister Heather Humphreys had confirmed the number of complaints.
He claimed that large companies were breaking the rules. “There are 200 groups of workers potentially working in unsafe conditions, 200 calls for the HSA to fall on deaf ears.”
Ennis, for Siptu, said it was also a low-wage sector, meaning workers often shared accommodation and transportation, making him “ripe” for the spread of the infection.
“Workers, by their very nature in the meat industry, work very close to each other; you have industrial air cooling systems; you have bottlenecks in canteens and bathrooms, “he told RTÉ News on Thursday afternoon.
“We have been asking for mandatory temperature tests for several weeks at this stage and I would ask the Minister to put in place a sector-specific strategy to deal with the meat industry to ensure that we protect our members, their families and the rest of the world. community.”
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