Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to apologise on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, who is unable to respond to this issue personally.

As Deputy McNamara has indicated, the success of Ireland's food sector can be attributed in no small part to our reputation as a provider of safe, high-quality food. This reputation has been copperfastened by the speed of our reaction to recent incidents involving equine contamination of meat and dioxin contamination of pork products. It is important, therefore, for us to ensure Irish products are checked regularly and any deficiencies addressed to maintain Ireland's reputation as a world-class provider of high-quality, safe food.

The contribution of small and medium enterprises, SMEs, is fundamental to the success of the Irish food industry. Over 90% of Irish food business operators fall into this category. With much of our food safety legislation developed at EU level, the Departments of Health and Agriculture, Food, and the Marine at all times look to ensure that the needs of SMEs are taken into account fully when discussing legislation at EU working group level. This has resulted in certain exemptions being set for smaller companies in such areas as labelling and food hygiene and reduced regulatory requirements applying to a range of small businesses, including butchers and retail caterers.

Detailed guidance notes for SMEs have also been developed and published by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland covering such matters as the implementation of hazard analysis and critical control point, HACCP, principles. In line with this Government's aim to substantially reduce the administrative burden on SMEs, the FSAI has also introduced as much as possible online facilities in respect of many of its services. The FSAI has developed guidance for agencies to reduce the number of cases where food businesses were supervised by more than one set of food safety inspectors. This cross-agency guidance has succeeded in clarifying supervision arrangements and reduced the regulatory burden directly. The FSAI has also developed a number of fora through which SMEs can provide feedback on issues such as regulation, including the food service forum, the retail forum and the artisan food producers forum. Perhaps the business to which Deputy McNamara referred might take the opportunity to link in to one or more of these fora. Regulatory issues are discussed at these fora and the options for flexibility in meeting legal requirements are explored. It is also worth pointing out that Ireland does not charge the food industry for the costs of official controls, except where such charges are mandatory.

I will bring the matter that Deputy McNamara has raised to the attention of the Minister for Health and of the Minister of State at the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Perry, who has responsibility for small business and regulatory controls.

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