Jobseekers on the Live Register are being encouraged to help out with this year’s fruit and vegetable harvest amid a shortage of seasonal workers.

The #Help2Harvest call-out is looking for workers who are “willing, able and dependable” and happy to work outdoors in Irish summer weather conditions.

Job advertisements sent out by the Department of Social Welfare note that Ireland’s farmers and food producers need support.

“The food growing in our fields is ready for harvesting,” it says. “There is food growing in our fields, but we are short of workers.”

Harvest workers

A spokesperson for the department said the #Help2Harvest programme aims to hire 800 workers to harvest the country’s crops.

The programme is being run with the support of the Department of Agriculture, the IFA and Teagasc.

Around 2,000 people are needed to complete each harvest and a spokesperson for Teagasc said there have been some issues with the availability of workers this year.

“Approximately 1500 seasonal workers come to Ireland every year to ensure the harvesting of seasonal fruits and vegetables,” he said.

“There have been some issues in worker availability due to travel disruption but there is no particular uplift in requirements over and above any normal year.”

Seasonal workers

It comes after Keelings Fruit Farm said it 'fully understood' people's concerns after it brought in 200 workers from Bulgaria to help with the harvest.

It said it would have been impossible to bring its fruit to market without the workers.

The Taoiseach called for an “urgent review” of the rules and procedures at Irish airports and ports after the workers arrived.

That same day, his department announced the national recruitment campaign and said people who are living in Ireland and unemployed would be offered the positions. It said people who have been temporarily laid off due to the outbreak would not.

Workers who take up the positions will be paid minimum wage plus productivity bonuses, working from 7am to 4pm each day.