Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghlacadh leis an Aire as teacht isteach sa Teach leis an cheist seo a thógáil.

The controversy surrounding the discovery of horsemeat in food labelled as beef is extremely serious and has been allowed to rumble on. Last weekend there was a grave development when horsemeat labelled as beef for export was discovered. It was expected that this would not be noticed because the product in question was destined for the Czech Republic. I put it to the Minister that it is past time we got to the bottom of this entire controversy which appears to be getting wider and wider all the time. In order to do this, an investigation that would be totally independent of the Minister and his Department should take place. Let us be honest: an increasing number of issues require clarification.

At the outset of this crisis, the Minister appeared to provide clear and unequivocal statements to the effect that this issue had nothing to do with the slaughtering of horses or the processing of horsemeat in Ireland. Now we know that it does have something to do with these. It may not be relevant in terms of the production of specific products, but it does come into play in a general context and in terms of the sourcing of product across Europe, mislabelling, etc. It is time for the Minister and his Department to stand back and allow an independent investigation to get to the bottom of the matter.

There are many issues in respect of which clarification is required, of which the first is that on which I tried to obtain clarification from the Minister via parliamentary questions. Will he now indicate the complaints made to his Department about horsemeat entering the food chain? When were these complaints made? What controls were in place in this matter? What action was taken on foot of the complaints to which I refer? What emerged from the investigations which subsequently took place? It is important to discover whether the original DNA samples were taken on foot of suspicions during a previous investigation.

Those of us who understand why the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, FSAI, answers to the Minister for Health rather than the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine must ask why Deputy Simon Coveney has been the lead Minister in this matter. The FSAI answers to the Minister for Health for a very good reasons, namely, that there will not be what is termed "capture" in respect of investigations into issues relating to food quality and food safety. It is also important that there be an independent investigation into both the supervision of the importation of meat into the country and food labelling. There are many issues which must be investigated on an independent basis in order that we might discover what has gone wrong, to restore the credibility of the beef and processed food industries in this country and to ensure that whatever we put on the market is, literally, what is described on the package. This must be the case, regardless of whether it is horsemeat or processed food. Until an independent investigation is put in train, we will merely stumble from crisis to crisis.

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