Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

As the Minister and everyone else is aware, the discovery of horse and pig DNA in what are supposed to be beef products raises the most serious questions. It raises questions for the food industry across Europe and for the political authorities. The fact that it is a pan-European problem and scandal should not be a source of comfort for the Government. I note that at the outset the Minister's response to this crisis was to jump quickly to the conclusion that the origin of the problem lay outside the country and to reassure everybody that everything was okay here and to point the finger at Poland.

What we do not need is false comfort in this regard. Instead, we need to be sure that assurances given by the Minister are based on real fact and evidence. Notwithstanding the fact this is a pan-European problem, it is a larger problem for this country for several reasons. First, as Ireland is the largest exporter of beef in the northern hemisphere, sorting out this problem is of significant economic importance to us. Second, the reputation of our food industry is indelibly linked with the welfare of our economy as a whole. The fact horse DNA was found in one third of products tested by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland and pig DNA in 85% of burgers tested in another study is pretty serious.

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