‘ANYONE WE TAKE IN WILL ISOLATE FOR TWO WEEKS’

‘IT’S sad to see Keelings getting so much negativity, a lot of it was just miscommunication. They were just a victim. They followed all their guidelines. OK, the two metre distance might not have been enforced on the plane but, in terms of the industry standards, everything was in place.’

As someone who employs workers from abroad on an annual basis, Eamonn Creann has a lot of sympathy for those at Keelings, he understands the complexities of the situation and believes the controversy will ultimately benefit businesses like his.

‘Any business like ours has built up relationships with people from abroad. We would take in pickers from Romania and they would make their living picking fruit,’ Eamonn says.

‘They’ve built up trust on the farm so we take them back every year. However, anyone we take in this year will have to follow the guidelines; stay two weeks in a secured location, in isolation.

‘The good thing to come out of the Keelings situation is that more guidelines were issued as a result. At this point, the airport will ring us to make sure people are who they say they are on their forms.’

Last year, approximately 51 per cent of the staff at Green Hill were Irish, the rest made up of foreign nationals. But not all of those ‘non-Irish’ arrived on a plane for the summer.

‘The manager of the farm is Polish, he started as a picker in England,’ says Eamonn. ‘The next one down from him is a grower from Bulgaria, he started as a picker. You ask him, “how did you become a grower?” He’ll say: “I kept putting up my hand.”

‘His assistant is Bulgarian. The two main supervisors in the field are Romanian, they started as pickers.

‘Last year we employed 51 per cent Irish staff, but we only had one Irish picker. If you ask me could we end up with 100 per cent on the farm, I’d say absolutely yes – but I’d have to be guaranteed that they’re in it for the long game.

‘We need people to understand that there’s great jobs in Irish fruit farms, you can start as a picker and move up along; become supervisor, maybe a grower, a manager, salesperson, all these jobs are built into the industry.’