Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Maidin mhaith agus cuirim fáilte don cruinniú. I apologise to the friends and family I have poisoned over the years with chicken and turkey - I am one of those individuals who has been guilty of that, so the witnesses' information is welcome, although I do not want any claims coming in.

As committee members, we do not have many powers but we can make recommendations. What is safefood's view on setting up an all-Ireland body that would deal with emerging food and safety issues? The horsemeat scandal showed us that the island's food chain is complex. An oversupply of horsemeat was combined with pressure from large retailers and their suppliers to cut costs, creating the perfect set of circumstances for fraud and all the difficulties that occurred. Would it make sense to have some sort of neutral space where stakeholders and individuals working in this field could flag up issues of concern, or even to have some sort of whistleblower mechanism for the food industry? If such a body had existed, the problem might have been picked up far quicker. Would safefood, in its non-regulatory, all-island capacity, be well placed to facilitate such a body?

What happened to the plans for the enteric reference centre for the island of Ireland? As far as I can remember, they were shelved by Mary Harney when she was Minister. It was part of the safefood remit at the time and would have allowed food samples to be tested for harmful bacteria. I imagine it would have saved Irish taxpayers a small fortune. Under the current system, we send the samples to Colindale in England, which is a costly process. Could the witnesses let me know the cost? Do they know whether it can result in delays? If there was an outbreak, the Government might wait for a number of samples to save on shipping costs. I think they get it free in the North, but there is pecking order in which the North is placed just above the Republic of Ireland in the prioritisation of tests.

The childhood obesity campaign was mentioned and we all welcome that. Obesity is a problem in both Britain and Ireland. What is the attitude of safefood, if the witnesses can comment, on the question of a sugar tax? A tax on products that contain a high quantity of sugar has been mooted, as has been mentioned already in the context of energy drinks, soft drinks and sweets. We have heard that the money raised in this way could be put back, for example, into the health budget. It could also be put into promoting vegetables and fruit.

Is any work being undertaken with parents and guardians around how to eat healthily on a budget? A lot of the shops in what are officially described as deprived areas stock their shelves with two-for-one offers, doughnuts, all the high-sugar foods, pizzas and so on.

It is almost impossible to get them to bring in fresh vegetables.

How many parents does safefood work with? Cooking is important. I am involved in a not-for-profit company in Fettercairn in Tallaght whose aim was to try to provide a healthy food option every day, but coming up with the calorie count for a particular meal was beyond their capability. Does safefood know of supports for such small community enterprises? I have worked with several groups of lone parents who were naive and did not have a clue how to cook basic foods. There are several of those organisations on the island of Ireland. Does safefood tie in with them? I congratulate it on the work it does.

Cooking for teenagers is another problem. I spoke to some students recently who said even those who are going to university and are highly intelligent do not have a clue how to make the most basic meal. I know there are several programmes on television on that topic, but how do we popularise the culture of people cooking for themselves?