Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

Deputy Sargent is trying to pre-empt the processing of the application by the Environmental Protection Agency. We have a strong working relationship with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in Scotland. I spent part of St. Patrick's Day 2005 discussing this issue with the Scottish Minister. We have a good relationship and we both want to ensure we protect our plant health status as a high grade seed area. The Environmental Protection Agency will assess this application based on the stringent procedures already in place that transpose the directive under the statutory instrument of 2003.

We have a national policy on GM technology. Policy statements were issued in October 1999 and October 2000. All of this comes from the co-decision making process of the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers, where legislative measures binding on all member states were put in place with the relevant safeguards. That EU-wide regulatory framework applies to genetically modified organisms and we have the most stringent safeguards in the world on GMOs. These are aimed at achieving a high degree of human health and environmental protection while safeguarding consumer choice and ensuring WTO compatibility.

The subsidiarity principle is exercised in matters of coexistence and, as I stated in my reply, the Minister has established an interdepartmental working group and a report has been published. We are seeking submissions from interested groups and individuals and the closing date for submissions has been extended from January to March of this year. Members of this House have already made a submission. The Minister will then set in place the coexistence regulations.

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