Pat O'Neill (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would like to compliment the Minister, Professor Reilly and both bodies. I do not think this thing could have been rushed. We had to make sure we had all the facts before we brought them into the public domain. My sympathies are with the people involved in Ballybay and Castleblayney. The livelihoods of the workers are being threatened. Farm families will suffer if this situation has an impact on the beef industry. Professor Reilly summed it up when he said that trust is the most important thing in any industry and especially in the food industry. We must bear this in mind, given that we have spent years building our reputation.

Most of my questions have been asked. The Minister said that 7,189 inspections were carried out in 2011. There is a difference between the type of inspection carried out by the Department and the kind of inspection carried out by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland. Since 2005, the authority has done DNA testing on chicken fillets, on smoked, wild and farmed salmon and on fish products. In 2012, it decided to do DNA testing on meat products. Professor Reilly said:

The survey was carried out against a background of increasing prices of raw material used in food and feed manufacture and global sourcing of ingredients. This can lead to a temptation to cut corners to substitute cheaper raw materials for higher-priced ingredients.

Professor Reilly also said that this was a random test. Was there a high level of suspicion with regard to certain products that were in use in this country? Was the authority tipped off that other products may have been in use in this country? Was that why it decided to test certain products from certain plants? The retailers have a duty here too. When a retailer tells a plant to source or supply a burger for 9 cent so it can be sold for 20 cent, it should appreciate that it has a duty of care with regard to what goes into the product. If one tries to drive the price down, one will get a cheaper product.

The final question I would like to put to the Minister relates to the Garda inspection. I welcome the decision to call the Garda Síochána into this. We would hope that nobody in Ireland - in the plants or in the meat trade - is tied into the Garda investigation. If it transpires that this is entirely a Polish problem, what level of co-operation with the Polish police can we expect? I appreciate that it is early in the process. If the Garda needs to access records in Poland as part of its investigation, is there any agreement with the police or the ministry in Poland that will enable it to establish certain facts?