Irish Dream Turns to ‘Nightmare’ for Eastern European Seasonal Workers

She was paid much more than what she could expect to earn doing the same job in Bulgaria, but the work was sometimes a "nightmare", she said.

In an interview with the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, and Noteworthy, Elena, who asked that her real name not be published for fear of hurting her chances of future employment, recalled overcrowded cabins provided for workers to take breaks in the farm fields and long workdays. 

Sometimes, they would work 13 or 14 hours a day, meaning some workers would only get back to their accommodation at 9 p.m. since there was only one bus to shuttle them back and forth, she said.

"They would go back, eat and go to bed," Elena said. "Everybody does it for the money."

Though the horticulture sector takes up less than one per cent of Irish agricultural land, it packs a significant economic punch, worth 476 million euros last year and directly employing 6,600 people.

But the current government is pushing for it to grow, targeting a 60 per cent increase in primary production and the creation of 23,000 jobs along the supply chain under a 10-year strategy.

In May 2017, then Agriculture Minister Michael Creed said investment in people would be "crucial" to the strategy's success.

But a four-month investigation by BIRN and Noteworthy, an Irish investigative media platform, shows some people - the migrant workers big producers depend on at harvest time - are being let down. We can reveal:

• The experience of a number of workers from the Eastern European states in the mushroom and soft fruit industry who spoke to BIRN and Noteworthy.
• Concerns about labour practices in the mushroom industry in the border area, according to findings shared with BIRN and...