Reports on the Northern Ireland Food and Drinks Processing Sector and the NI Veterinary Sector

Date published: 22 May 2018

The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs has released two reports, ‘DAERA Migrant Labour and Trade Enquiry’ and ‘EU Migrant Labour: the NI Veterinary Sector’.

DARD report

The DAERA Migrant Labour and Trade Enquiry report presents survey results for the food and drinks processing sector on migrant labour, frontier workers, seasonal workers, and the transport routes of external trade. 

Some of the report’s key findings:

  • In 2017, an estimated 40% of employees in the food and drinks processing sector were citizens of Other EU countries (EU excluding the UK and Ireland).
  • An estimated 3.5% of employees were citizens of the Rest of the World (non-EU).
  • The majority of migrant workers in the food and drinks processing sector are process, plant and machine operatives.

The EU Migrant Labour: the NI Veterinary Sector report provides a summary of available data on the Veterinary profession in NI regarding the country of practice and country of qualification.

Key findings of the report:

  • There are 820 vets practising in NI, of which 11% received their veterinary qualification in Other EU countries (excluding the UK and Ireland) and are likely to have been born outside the UK and Ireland.
  • 48% of vets practising in NI received their veterinary qualification from outside the UK (37% Ireland and 11% Other EU countries).

Notes to editors: 

  1. This statistical press release relates to the reports ‘DAERA Migrant Labour and Trade Enquiry’ and ‘EU Migrant Labour: the NI Veterinary Sector’.
  2. The reports can be downloaded free of charge from the DAERA website
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