Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)

I thank the Minister for that. Perhaps the Minister of State did not have time to fully reply to what I consider to be an important part of my original question, that is, the number of foreign visits carried out by the veterinary inspectorate and, specifically, the number of trips made to South American and Asian countries each year since 2000. I am trying to clarify the correlation in terms of levels of inspection between exporting South American countries and the expectations of EU countries.

When the Minister of State stated "that it is a requirement that animal products imported in third countries meet standards at least equivalent to those required for production in and trade between member states", he rehearsed a reply given to two questions I asked in December. However, the Minister seemed to contradict that in December when she noted: "with respect to traceability and controls of residues of veterinary medicines, the purpose of EU legislation is not to impose on exporting third countries a system of guarantees that is equal to the EU system." I am confused as to the difference between these two answers and the implications thereof but perhaps the Minister of State will clarify the matter.

See this speech in context