Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

A small point I was reminded of when Mr. Miller was talking about GM and stating that he does not really have an issue with it is that, with the consumer, it is down to perception. Ten years ago or more in Leitrim County Council when I was a member, there was a debate about GM with a scientist from Teagasc and someone opposed to GM. The scientist made all sorts of arguments about GM, such as how it was perfectly safe and there was no scientific reason for anything being wrong with it. I asked him, if he had been there ten years previously and I had asked him if it was safe to feed meat and bonemeal to cattle, would he have told me it was scientifically safe, and he told me he would have. However, science turned out to be wrong. The logical problem many consumers have is where one does something which is a twist of nature to a fair extent. There are situations where they are making GM crops which are frost resistant.

They go pretty much down the road of wondering what is going on here. There is the potential for something to go wrong one day. If we are depending on bringing in genetically modified, GM, products, or if we go GM in Ireland for many of our products, where will we get our food if some catastrophe happens? That is the danger that the vast majority of the public have in their head. Ultimately, we as politicians know that members of the public are not that stupid and it is not that easy kid them. This is a matter in which we must trust the public gut feeling. As has been said, the public's gut feeling with GM is that, in general, it is wary of it. There is an opportunity for Ireland in this and I support the witness in what he says in this regard.

In my part of the country, in Leitrim and much of the west of Ireland, many trees have been planted, which is a permanent change of land use. This has been done to make a carbon sink. It would make much more sense to support the tillage industry, rather than having whole townlands and parishes in my part of the country where nobody lives any more because there is nothing but trees around. That does not make sense either. I support both aspects of the witness's comments.