Reaping the Harvest

This collaboration between Irish investigative platform Noteworthy.ie and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) exposed the conditions facing eastern European horticultural workers in Ireland.

Noteworthy.ie reporter Niall Sargent teamed up with BIRN’s Maria Cheresheva in Bulgaria and Marcel Gascón Barberá in Romania to find out if rights granted to seasonal workers under EU law are being respected in Ireland. The result is an exposé of hardship, low pay and mismanaged labour policies.

Thread: an extremely important series of articles by @niall_sargent and @mcheresheva for @noteworthy_ie and @birn_network on labour conditions for migrant workers in the horticulture sector in Ireland. https://t.co/SWMowN53V2

— Clare Daly (@ClareDalyMEP) December 21, 2020

In November 2021, Noteworthy’s Niall Sargent won the investigative writing award of the prestigious Irish Food Writing Awards for his work on the project.

Published stories

English

• Irish Dream Turns to ‘Nightmare’ for Eastern European Seasonal Workers ( Balkan Insight, BIRN, 17 December 2020 )
• Growing pains: Fears for migrant workers who carry the load of Ireland's horticulture boom ( Noteworthy, Ireland, 18 December 2020 )
• Ireland has major 'pull factor' for seasonal workers fleeing economic hardship ( Noteworthy, Ireland, 18 December 2020 )
• 'Under pressure': Industry urges State to open horticultural workforce to non-EU workers ( Noteworthy, Ireland, 18 December 2020 )

Bulgarian

• Ирландската мечта се превръща в кошмар за сезонните работници от Източна Европа ( Balkan Insight, BIRN, 17 December 2020 )
• Ирландската мечта се превръща в кошмар за сезонните работници от Източна Европа ( Dnevnik, Bulgaria, 19 December 2020 )

Romanian

• Visul irlandez devenit ”coșmar” pentru sezonierii est-europeni ( Balkan Insight, BIRN, 17 December 2020 )