Susan O'Keeffe (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I ask forgiveness if I do not scratch my head about some of what has happened. I am, however, puzzled as to why the Department was not notified earlier than January. I appreciate the need to ensure the tests were correct before the Food Safety Authority could announce publicly that a problem had arisen but I do not know why the Department would not at least be informally notified about the unexpected presence of equine DNA. The Sunday Times reported in May 2012 that it had been following lorry loads of horses to abattoirs in Ireland, Britain and Europe and that it had observed abattoirs being opened up late at night to receive horses for slaughter. We should not have been surprised that horsemeat was in the system in the wrong way and I am concerned that the Department did not learn about the matter earlier.

How old were the boxes of frozen meat which were carefully tested and what state were they in? Had they been thawed and refrozen? Was there any evidence of tampering with labels or did the authority not look for that information given that, in fairness, it was on a DNA chase rather than a label-tampering chase? Surely the boxes were examined by somebody, however. Are standards in place in the Department for the length of time that frozen meat can be stored? There have been stories about meat being thawed and refrozen or relabelled. The announcement by Polish officials that they tested the plants in that country last week but found no trace of equine DNA would not be surprising if these boxes were older than six months. Perhaps the plants have been cleaned up but there appears to be a discrepancy.

I appreciate the description given of beef trim. Does the market trade in trim to the extent that it can be divided into lean trim and scrag trim or better trim and worse trim? I understand that is the case but I am open to correction.

Is the Minister satisfied with the progress thus far? I recognise that the process is painful and slow but here we are in February with a number of questions still unanswered. I am concerned about the length of time this investigation has taken. I appreciate the Minister's dilemma but I wonder if he has a shortage of manpower. Was the special investigation unit deployed on foot of the aforementioned report in The Sunday Times? What sort of expertise does the unit contain in regard to horsemeat and potential imports of meat from Poland?

If somebody puts a sticker containing the word "Taoiseach" on my back, it will not make me Taoiseach. A label can be put on anything. How knowledgeable is the Minister at this stage in regard to the level of labelling carried out? His officials will be aware that the capacity to alter labels has existed for many years. I am not surmising or speaking about cloud cuckoo land. I know it can be done and that paper trails can be adequately altered. Is there any evidence of such practices and what are the Minister's views on it?

People in the industry have said it is an open secret that Silvercrest was a mess prior to this incident. I appreciate that departmental officials were not based permanently at the plant because it did not slaughter animals, but the Department certainly maintained a presence. Silvercrest is not obliged to share certain information due to commercial sensitivities but I am concerned that the matter has come to this. Did anybody employed by the Department make a complaint of any description about Silvercrest? Perhaps somebody noted that extra boxes were being delivered, that the stores were open late at night or that people were being paid overtime apparently without need. The Minister will know exactly what I am speaking about. Was such behaviour brought to the Department's attention and, if so, was anything done about it? If nothing was done, why not?

The Polish officials have been invited here, but is it a matter of invitation at this stage? Should they not be on the next flight? I appreciate the problems of interpreting between English and Polish but I am sure we could find some interpreters to help out.

I am extremely concerned that they have not been here already and that this is a toing and froing scenario. I know we cannot cross all the t's and dot all the i's on the same day, but I am concerned that we are still at an invitation phase.