Transports issues to areas “inaccessible to public transport” on the east coast of Ireland have been blamed for the low number of local candidates in the recruitment stage of a Government-led horticulture scheme.

Some 704 candidates were referred from Jobseekers by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection but the Department said that “early feedback” indicated that just 106 candidates were “actively engaging” with employers.

“Some of these employers are, as yet, in the early stages of recruitment - we would hope these figures will improve in the coming weeks,” the Department said.

“Most of these employers are based on the east coast of Ireland and many locations can be quite inaccessible to public transport.”

However, both Wexford Bus and Bus Éireann operate numerous daily services between Dublin and local towns in Wexford, where a high number of horticulture operators are based.

Controversy

The scheme was launched following controversy over horticulture company Keelings flying in 189 fruit pickers from Bulgaria in April, with widespread concerns workers could spread COVID-19.

At the time Keelings said recruiting workers from overseas was necessary and said they’d had just 40 local applicants when up to 900 were required for the fruit season.

The company followed advised HSE protocol at the time but An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar weighed in on the Keelings debate, saying that while agriculture workers were essential, he had not “envisioned” hundreds of seasonal workers flying into the country.

The horticulture industry has traditionally found it difficult to attract local workers and the Department of Business awarded the sector 500 permits for non-EEA workers – all of which have been filled.

The UK horticulture sector also relies heavily on foreign labour and its government set up a Pick for Britain scheme to attract local fruit pickers during the pandemic. However, the scheme had a similarly low take-up rate.

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