'Unreasonable' to ask businesses to close while meat plants remain open, Cork TD says

“The Minister for Health said that he believes that meat plants in the affected areas should close but we cannot be expected to rely on the industry itself to make this call," Holly Cairns outlined.

Holly Cairns: 'This crisis speaks volumes about the powerful interests that control the meat processing industry.'

Any meat factory affected by a cluster of Covid-19 cases should be forced to shut down, according to the Social Democrats.

At yesterday's Special Covid-19 Committee hearing, meat industry representatives said their preference is the implementation of testing regimes instead of shutdowns.