Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

Fine Gael has been campaigning for the introduction of comprehensive food labelling and the banning of substandard food imports at national and EU level for many years now. However, successive Fianna Fáil-led Governments have steadfastly looked the other way and made plain their disinterest in food consumers and the future of Irish farming. I have a number of questions for the Minister of State. Are environmental health officers sufficiently resourced to enforce the Health (Country of Origin of Beef) Regulations? Has his Department taken sufficient action to ensure that businesses selling beef are aware of their statutory obligations in respect of labelling? Does he accept that it is his responsibility to ensure that these regulations are being adhered to?

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland, FSAI, recently revealed that food labelling in this country is an utter shambles. A recent FSAI survey found, for example, that 25% of honey labelled as Irish is of foreign origin. What action will the Government take in response to this research report? As the Government's own literature states, "most of the legislation on food comes from the EU". This Government and the Oireachtas committee chaired by Deputy Johnny Brady have become lazy and apathetic about generating rights-enhancing legislation for consumers and neglected to take a proactive approach to protect the Irish agrifood sector, which accounts for 10% of employment, 8% of gross domestic product and 25% of net foreign earnings.

We are now patiently waiting to see if Commissioner Markos Kyprianou chooses to ban EU imports of substandard beef. What is certain is that if the EU belatedly takes this action, it will be no thanks to the efforts of Government, the Minister, Deputy Coughlan, or Fianna Fáil. The consistent intransigence in regard to the crippling difficulties that the continued importation of South American beef has caused for farmers speaks volumes about the true views of Fianna Fáil on this matter.

Time and again the Minister has been briefed on the inequity and inconsistency of subjecting EU farmers to stringently high standards while allowing the market to be swamped by cheaper South American beef which does not meet, nor is it required to do so, the same lofty standards as EU-produced beef. Last July, the Minister, Deputy Coughlan, famously defended Brazilian beef and undermined the IFA after it presented a report on production standards in Brazil to the European Commission.

The reality is that Brazilian beef falls down considerably in the areas of traceability and effective foot and mouth disease controls. Governments in the United States of America, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia have been willing to ban substandard beef but our Government is willing to stand idly by while our indigenous beef market buckles under the inequity and unfairness of the status quo. Farmers throughout the length and breadth of my constituency in Laois-Offaly are angry and frustrated by the Government's attitude and Fianna Fáil's inaction on this matter. Fine Gael has a different approach and I compliment my colleague Deputy Creed on tabling this motion which we will debate tonight and tomorrow night.

The value of Fine Gael's approach to food labelling was recently highlighted by a survey conducted by the IFA at this year's National Ploughing Championships in Tullamore in my constituency. The IFA survey, conducted at the request of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, found that a majority of consumers here associate Irishness with brand names, even though these brands may not contain Irish products. The fact that the majority of the 2,110 people surveyed came from the farming community which has a high awareness of labelling and the importance of sourcing Irish produce highlights starkly the need for this Government to take on board Fine Gael's proposals on food labelling, as outlined by Deputy Creed.

The Government's approach to this matter is a no-brainer. It is time the Government took action to give food labelling the priority it deserves and took decisive action to protect the interests of the agri-food industry and the consumer.

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