Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Barry has spoken about many of the issues on which I had intended to focus. I thank all of the witnesses for their presentations, which were illuminating as well as informative. I thank them for the effort they put into their presentations.

I have many reservations and bountiful scepticism about GMO based food and food crops. I always believe that when dabbling with the unknown one must err on the side of caution. Deputy Barry used his technical knowledge to outline what can happen when one intervenes in sequences and so on. In such circumstances, one never knows what the outcome will be, which is a matter of great concern.

Deputy Barry is correct that the reason poor grain is being imported is profitability and that but for the single farm payment most grain farmers would be wiped out altogether. Approximately 3 million tonnes of animal feed material is imported into Ireland each year. More than 50% of this grain is derived from GM soya and GM maize. Does anybody ever refer to this?

We talk about food labelling. Is that referred to in any way in the context of labelling, given that a significant amount of feedstuffs for cattle and livestock already contains significant amounts of GM ingredients? Where is that? My colleague is right. Trying to get the label of origin here has been something that defeated the European Commission. Even though we have a new EU Commissioner I have no doubt that, regardless of how hard he tries, there will be obstacles in that regard.

We have received submissions from various groups saying that there were 17 varieties caught up in the system in the last Commission and that it is an incredible failure of the EU's GMO regulations and a disregard for the scientific opinion of the EFSA. However, one must be very careful of opinions. Is everything independent or is there a mad rush by strongly financed, muscular and well heeled companies because it is in their interests to promote this? We must be very careful as one can throw out the baby with the bath water with respect to always trying to advance technology. For whose benefit will it ultimately be?

Senator O'Neill asked a relevant question regarding where this fits into feeding the world's population. It is an interesting question that somebody should try to address. Is this what it is about or is there a different motive altogether? A financial motive might well be driving this.

I have grave reservations, but this is a useful forum for the information being imparted by the witnesses today. I remain sceptical and I would be difficult to persuade as to the merits, particularly given the rush. We must know more and we must tread carefully before a final decision is made in this country. Regarding our voting record at Commission level, how do we vote? Do we vote in accordance with the science or do we make up our own minds? What are the criteria that drive us to make our decisions? Are they made on an individual basis or do we have a bloc view on this going forward? Is it a policy view or is it individual? It is important to know that as well. I thank the witnesses for the presentation.