Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I am taking this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children. I thank Deputy Boyle for raising this matter as it gives the Minister an opportunity to outline to this House the position on this matter. The Food Safety Promotion Board, Safefood, is a North-South implementation body established under the Good Friday Agreement. Its remit is to promote awareness and knowledge of food safety issues on an all-island basis. The Deputy has raised this issue via parliamentary questions on four previous occasions this year, the most recent being Question No. 230 on Tuesday, 4 April last. In replying to those questions the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Seán Power, stated the Department was not aware of complaints on employment practices or recruitment procedures. However, the Department was advised that Safefood has received two complaints on the appointment of a co-ordinator for a research network on cryptosporidium. Deputy Boyle maintains there were more than two and I will draw this to the attention of the Department.

The co-ordinator's role attracts a grant of €10,000 per annum for a period of five years to facilitate the setting up and maintenance of the research network, but it is not considered by Safefood to be a contract of employment.

The complaints are currently being processed by the appropriate employment equality machinery, one within this jurisdiction and one within Northern Ireland. Officials of the Department have been advised by Safefood that no additional complaints of this nature are being dealt with by the body. The position as set out previously to the Deputy remains unchanged and the Tánaiste fails to see how this issue could have been addressed more fully.

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