Meat Industry Ireland (MII), the group that represents the meat processing industry, has said that the shortage of labour at meat plants belonging to its member businesses is at “critical levels”.
In a statement to AgriLand, MII confirmed that it has made a submission for an increase in the meat processing operative facility to increase the number of permits granted for potential employees in the sector.
“The previous allocations of permits, over the past 18 months, have been essential to the sector. However, the labour market in Ireland continues to tighten significantly as the economy has moved to full employment,” explained MII representative Joe Ryan.
Similarly, there has been a continued decline in available labour from European countries.
Ryan said that the current staff shortages can also be partially attributed to the protests at factories at the end of the summer months and beginning of autumn, which, he argued, had a knock-on effect on staff numbers.
“The labour shortage in the labour-intensive meat processing sector is now at critical levels. Significant numbers of staff were also lost during August and September when illegal blockades forced a halt in processing operations, with resulting temporary lay-offs taking place,” he argued.
“In the context of this critical labour shortage, state assistance, through the employment permit system, is essential,” Ryan concluded.
Beef backlog
In other news relating to the meat processing sector, there is thought to be a backlog of some 60,000 head of cattle, with the beef kill in recent weeks “not really eating into this”.
That’s according to Joe Burke, the senior manager for meat and livestock at Bord Bia.
Speaking at a Teagasc beef and sheep seminar in Co. Offaly last week, Burke said: “Overall, for the year to date, we’re looking at a reduction of almost 60,000 in the number of cattle slaughtered.”
He added: “There has been a dramatic reduction in the number of steers and in the number of cull cows slaughtered – and the number of heifers has gone up slightly, as has the number of young bulls slaughtered.
“But overall there, coming into the middle of August, we were actually up by 40,000 head in terms of cattle slaughterings; and now we’re down by almost 60,000,” Burke highlighted.