Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

I appreciate the efforts being made in this area but much more must be done, especially in the poultry sector. In recent weeks we saw the closure of Castlemahon Foods and many other poultry businesses are under pressure. Poultry farmers are not achieving the returns of the past, partly due to an enormous increase in unjustified costs. How much longer will it be before the problems in the poultry sector are addressed? Currently no change of packaging is required to allow poultry from another country to be sold as Irish poultry. I have seen that with my own eyes and it is putting extraordinary pressure on the industry here. Is the Minister of State aware that only 45% of poultry bought on the island of Ireland is produced here? That is an indication of the seriousness of the situation.

With regard to meat, is the Minister of State aware that many restaurants are not adhering to the regulations that are supposedly in place? What steps are being taken to rectify that? While the price of meat is reasonably good at present, Brazilian producers are planning a major re-entry to the Irish market, which will have serious implications if we do not act now.

Is the Department of Agriculture and Food sending personnel to the countries where imported beef, poultry and other food products are sourced to determine their quality? The Egyptians, Iranians and others who bought meat products from us always sent their own inspectors here before buying.

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