I understand that my colleague the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Deputy Walsh, has already indicated that he will be undertaking a round of consultations with the representative organisations on the proposals in the agri food 2010 report and that these consultations should not take longer than three months.
Any proposal to employ a non-European economic area national in the food or agriculture sector would require, in the normal course, the issue of a work permit by my Department. Such permits are usually granted where the employer concerned can demonstrate that he or she has been unable to find an Irish or other EEA national to do the job concerned and where the relevant labour law and immigration requirements are met.
The provision of training for foreign workers in food safety issues in their own languages is not a matter for my Department. This is the responsibility of employers and is something that should be taken cognisance of when recruiting. I am informed by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland that food safety training for non-nationals in different languages is currently being provided by CERT and by the National Hygiene Partnership. CERT recently launched free induction packs for foreign workers in the food sector in Spanish, French and Italian. The National Hygiene Partnership has produced its "Hygiene Matters" booklet in Spanish and is hoping to translate it into Mandarin Chinese and Eastern European languages in the near future. The Environmental Health Officers Association currently makes local arrangements to have interpreters present where necessary during the delivery of their hygiene training programmes. They allow extra time during assessments to allow interpreters to translate for non-nationals.
