All staff in meat factories should be tested for Covid-19 immediately, according to a leading farming organisation.
It's after a number of staff in Rosderra Meats' plant in Edenderry, Co Offaly, tested positive for the virus this week.
It's one of a number of clusters of the virus in meat factories across the country.
Waterford native Edmond Phelan, president of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association, wants all meat factory staff tested immediately.
"There are a few hundred people now with it, they have to be taken off the production line because they are going to spread it to everybody else.
"It would be very shortsighted not to have everyone tested."
He added that a "very quick turnaround" is needed and that "people that are sick have to be kept out of the plant".
SIPTU
Trade Union SIPTU say that more than 600 cases of the virus have been reported in plants across the country.
SIPTU Manufacturing Division Organiser, Greg Ennis, has called for the immediate creation of a ‘Farm to Fork’ meat industry taskforce to deal with the spread of Covid-19.
"There is an urgent need for a taskforce involving all meat industry stakeholders to be set up by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
"A sector specific strategy is long overdue for the meat industry to tackle the threat posed from Covid-19.
"Workers in meat plants are employed in close proximity to each other and this has almost certainly been a conduit for the spread of the virus. The living conditions of the many low paid workers in the industry is another contributory factor.
"A collective approach, encompassing elements of the recently agreed ‘Return to Work Protocol’ and other additional measures must be tailored for the meat industry to prevent a potentially disastrous situation emerging in plants across the country.
"The meat industry has become another front line in the fight against the virus and must be prioritised.
"We are asking the Minster for Agriculture, Michael Creed, to urgently establish a ‘Farm to Fork’ meat industry taskforce to counter this serious threat to workers, their families and their communities."
SIPTU represents thousands of workers in dozens of meat plants across Ireland.
