Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

As I stated, I spoke to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine this morning. He is very clear that he will be very open in providing information both for the public and the House on everything that has happened in this case. I can provide the Deputy with the information I was given this morning by the Minister's Department on the timeline. The FSAI first took samples in mid-November which were tested in a laboratory called IdentiGEN. At the end of November the FSAI took further samples which were sent to a laboratory abroad in December. On 21 December, at the request of the FSAI, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine assisted the authority in taking samples of ingredients at some processing plants. The results of these tests were received by the FSAI last Friday, 11 January and the Department was informed of them by the FSAI on Monday, 14 January. The FSAI provided the Department with details of the sampling results at a lunchtime meeting on Monday, at which the implications were discussed and evaluated.

Once the Food Safety Authority of Ireland had advised the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine of the details of those sampling results, the Department immediately commenced a full-scale investigation. As stated earlier, the Department is continuing to carry out that investigation.

See this speech in context