LKL Ireland, a new collaboration between the UK-based LKL Services Ltd and the Grasstec Group, is to recruit the first 10 of a planned 60 dairy workers from across eastern Europe next month.

The company plans to recruit up to 60 Romanian farm workers to work on dairy farms before the end of the year, LKL Operations and business development manager Kathleen Fogarty told the Irish Farmers Journal.

“This has been the largest shortage in labour supply that we’ve ever seen. Bringing eastern European workers in is the obvious solution. They are keen to get started,” Fogarty said.

“They will be involved in milking and general farm labour.

The workers must have a negative COVID-19 test before leaving Romania

“Some of them may not have any machinery skills before coming here, but they’ll be taught along the way.

“The workers must have a negative COVID-19 test before leaving Romania and will then spend five days in isolation on arrival in Ireland.

“On the fifth day they will get a COVID-19 test and if it returns negative, they will be free to begin work,” she said.