Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

I have taken note of the order and will endeavour to respond to Members' questions as best I can. I thank Members for their contributions.

There is no doubt that the pig sector has been adversely affected by recent events. The primary responsibility of Government was to protect public health and to safeguard the excellent reputation of Irish food. The evidence shows that the Government acted responsibly and correctly to the dioxin incident. This is not alone our view but the view of others who commented on the matter independently of Government.

When the positive analysis result was received, we acted immediately and effectively. The decision to recall pork products was not a decision taken lightly but it was, as acknowledged, a necessary one. It is worth referring again to the international and expert commentary cited by the Minister, Deputy Brendan Smith, that shows we are viewed as having taken decisive action and as having informed the public as to exactly what we were doing. In addition, the BBC was complimentary as to the manner in which we handled the incident and pointed to the "meltdown" the industry would have faced had we not acted as we did. The Minister referred earlier to the costly alternative, a bill of €140 million per annum, with which we would have been faced had workers been let go en masse, a danger while evident at the time has now been rectified.

As Deputy Creed stated the timeframe involved is critical. The Minister will tomorrow attend a Council of Ministers meeting in Brussels. We needed to bring before the Dáil this Supplementary Estimate prior to the Houses going into recess. In response to those Deputies who requested a further breakdown of the details in regard to this Supplementary Estimate, it was not possible, unfortunately, to do so as this would have caused unnecessary delay. We are caught between a rock and a hard place in this regard.

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