Dr. Thomas McLoughlin:

If we do not use it in Ireland, we will be importing wheat, for example, and we will not be able to apply the EU's legislation on traceability and labelling because there will be no way of identifying that wheat if the changes to the genome are small. For example, one letter in the genome could be changed to make it tolerant to some disease. It is a major issue in the EU right now.

This train has left the station. Other jurisdictions are already using this technology and are moving ahead. The main question is, if we do not use this technology, what will our farmers be doing? We will be importing apples but we will not know how they are produced. With a GM variety, we can identify it because there is a new piece of DNA in the apple. With some gene editing techniques, however, we cannot identify the relevant varieties.

In light of the Commission's study, it is of paramount importance that a decision be made in 2023. This matter is dear to my heart. I retired five years ago, having worked in the area for 40 years. If we lose this technology in Europe, it will be a crying shame. This is the science that is taking us out of the pandemic. It is just another tool of modern biotechnology.