Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

The coexistence draft regulation has not been finalised and taking Spain as an example, coexistence has resulted in contamination. We have much windier conditions that Spain so we must do more thinking on this before we sign off on those coexistence plans. They are not foolproof.

Will the Minister of State do anything to safeguard the marketability of Irish seed potatoes in the likely event of contamination? The contamination will not be detected until after a crop has been harvested because of the time it takes to manifest itself in the next generation of seed potatoes. The Minister of State cannot offer safeguards unless he takes steps to prevent Ireland going down the GM road, particularly given that it will also jeopardise other farmers.

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