Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)

There were more than two complaints and I will explain how that arose. Either Safefood has supplied the Minister with incorrect information or — I do not even want to think in these terms — the House has been misled. I subsequently received a communication from Dr. Cherie Millar, also from Ballymena, County Antrim, who in 2004 applied for a full-time position as chief specialist of microbiology with the science and technical directorate of Safefood. This ongoing complaint was not recorded in either of the answers to my recent questions. I seek a reply and if it is not in the Minister's prepared answer it should be supplied at the soonest opportunity. It leads to an accumulated lack of confidence that the information supplied by Safefood and the practices it deploys are not what they should be. It is vital that recruitment by all-island bodies is seen to be done correctly. The essence of Dr. Millar's complaint, which was subsequently sent in a substantial portfolio to the Taoiseach, was that the employment statement published by Safefood was not followed and in a key respect was demonstrably flawed. Advertisements for this important position were placed only in The Irish News, Lá and Foinse but not in the media of the other tradition in Northern Ireland, namely The Belfast Newsletter or The Belfast Telegraph. On these grounds a substantial wrong has been done on recruitment procedures.

The other issue I would like to raise is that Safefood has, either unwittingly or intentionally, offended people. In issuing invitations to a network for scientists and doctors involved in the study of cryptosporidium it sent out a series of mixed messages to many scientists who work on the island of Ireland, another of whom is in the Gallery tonight——

See this speech in context