Tom Sheahan (Kerry South, Fine Gael)

Why do we need labelling for fish products? Cork Airport is now the busiest fish port in the country, with fish being imported by plane. It is a sad state of affairs in an island nation. Irish people will buy Irish goods but there must be effective labelling, stating what the product is, if it is fresh, farmed or wild, its origin and where it was processed. In my former life as a butcher, any beef in my shop showed the date of birth of the cow, the producer, the herd number, animal number, date of slaughter and the licence number of the abattoir where it was slaughtered. We are not asking for that amount of detail for fish but the Irish consumer deserves to know what he is putting on the table. There must be information on country of origin, the product, where it was processed and who produced it.

It is projected that the pork dioxin scare will cost €180 million and a percentage of that will be paid for pork that was not Irish because it was not traceable and we cannot determine its origin. This is why effective labelling is necessary.

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