ABP, Dawn, Kepak, Kildare Chilling and Liffey Meats all availed of the Government’s COVID-19 wage subsidy scheme (TWSS) to help pay their employees' wages during the pandemic.

The scheme was eligible to all companies in Ireland that could demonstrate, to the satisfaction of Revenue, a minimum of a 25% decline in turnover and were unable to fully pay normal wages.

Revenue refunded the employer the maximum subsidy amount of €410/week per qualifying employee and in return, a company had to keep the employee on their payroll.

The scheme ran from 26 March until 31 August and was then replaced with the Employer COVID-19 Refund Scheme.

COVID-19

Meat factories were the subject of considerable scrutiny over the summer months, due to a number of outbreaks of COVID-19, with issues around worker welfare and pay raised in the Special Committee on COVID-19 Response.

Although Revenue published the list of companies in receipt of payments, they did not state how much each company had received.