Decision to stop meat factory testing beggars belief
- Urgent explanation needed from government
- Extra capacity needed to be put in place ASAP
- Neither Minister for Agriculture or Health flagged this today
Labour Agriculture spokesperson Seán Sherlock has said the government need to give an urgent explanation on why testing at meat factories has been stopped, and that extra capacity should be put in place as quickly as possible.
Deputy Sherlock said:
“It beggars belief that testing is now being stopped at meat factories after all we’ve gone through.
“If there is not enough capacity then we should ensure it is quickly put in place.
“Throughout the pandemic we’ve seen time and again that cases in these settings can arise quickly and rapidly infect other workers and spread into the community.
“We need an urgent explanation from the government on why this was done, and not announced publicly.
“The Minister for Agriculture was out on Today with Claire Byrne this morning and made no mention of it, while the Minister for Health failed to inform the Dáil this evening during statements on Covid-19.
“With three counties having only emerged from a regional lockdown this is the worrying move and we need to ensure public confidence is maintained.”