Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am concerned because recently we have been growing genetically modified potatoes in Carlow. It will be a sad day if we go down that road and it is not in the interests of the Irish farmer to engage in genetically modified foods. If organisations like Monsanto begin calling the shots on what food we use and what pesticides or sprays we use then it will not be good, especially for the small food producer. Such a change would cause serious problems and there is a good reason why Europe has fought so hard against the introduction of genetically modified foods.

Something that has come to my attention of late is seaweed. One of the biggest plants in Ireland has been sold to a Canadian company. The company is looking for a licence to be allowed to process approximately 40,000 tonnes per year. At the moment there are two laws which are contradictory. I imagine the Minister knows a good deal about this. One of them dates back to 1934. One law holds that we are not allowed to take anything out of the sea without a licence while the other holds that if a person owns land beside the water he can go out as far as the tide. These are contradictory. The processing of seaweed is an indigenous industry and it should be promoted.

I went out for a swim on Sunday morning and I was wading through seaweed. There are massive amounts of seaweed in Wexford but we are not processing it.

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