Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Ó Cuív keeps saying I have not answered certain questions. I have answered that question. I have produced an information note for anybody who wants it - I will send it to the Deputy this evening - on what we have done in the past 12 months regarding equine identification, passports, linking those passports with microchips, increased supervision within equine slaughtering facilities, and taking over responsibility from local authorities in certain equine slaughtering facilities in Ireland, of which there are not that many left. We have done a lot in that area, and I will happily give the Deputy the detail on that.

Regarding the independence of the inquiry, my Department is involved in working under contract for the FSAI to ensure this country has an effective food safety system, and it is very effective. My Department takes 30,000 samples a year of meat from various places and tests them, from a food safety point of view, for everything from E. coli to chemical content, as well as all of the other standard food safety tests. We work with the FSAI to reassure people that the food they are eating is safe. What we had not done in the past and what the FSAI has done only to a limited extent - no other country has been doing this - was to use DNA testing to check that food is what it says it is, and it is because of that testing in Ireland that we uncovered this issue, which has subsequently become a huge issue across Europe and, arguably, globally.

I reject the idea that we are somehow compromised by examining and improving the way in which our food safety systems work, the testing mechanisms we use and the way we use them. I accept that we need to be scrutinised by Deputies such as Deputy Ó Cuív, and we are being scrutinised.

I refer to the idea that we are not the appropriate authority to establish if there are problem areas and to try to respond and put new systems in place, working with the sector because the primary responsibility lies with food service operators in regard to food safety. It is up to us to put the checks in place to ensure we hold them to account. We do that probably better than any other country in the European Union. For example, if one looks at the tests we do and the inspections we make in the food processing sector, we do double the number of tests the European Union requires us to do in terms of inspections. We will continue to increase the number, if necessary. We are now in the process of mainstreaming DNA testing in that system and we will be the first country in the European Union to do so.

I strongly defend how we have responded to this. It has continued to grow and new scandals have broken as part of the overall scandal. That has been frustrating for all of us but we will continue to try to get to the bottom of what has happened and build a complete picture in terms of Ireland's role in this, and we are not too far away from doing that. I look forward to being able to outline the detail of that when it is done.

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