Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Verona Murphy for raising what is a really important issue and one about which I share her concern, namely, the discovery and recent reporting of black grass in wild seed mixes.

The standards for quality and purity of seed and propagating material are implemented at EU level through a suite of EU directives and regulations. In total, this legislation is implemented through 12 directives and a number of associated regulations. The legislation is applicable to the main agricultural crops, covering fodder plants, cereals, beet, potatoes, oilseed crops, vegetables, fruit, ornamental plants and forestry. The legislation is not applicable to wild flower seeds. While the legislation covers certain weed and disease species, there are no specific controls relating to black grass. The number of weed species covered in the legislation is very limited. Seed from third countries is certified and labelled under OECD rules. Although there is no specific tolerance for black grass in the OECD rules, they do state, "Crops containing an excessive number of weeds shall be rejected" and "The seed crop should be reasonably free from weeds and other crop species, especially those whose seeds may be difficult to separate from the seed crop during seed processing".

Since 1 January 2021 the UK-GB has been certifying seed according to OECD certification rules and has stated it will certify seed according to EU standards for the next two years. Member states may implement voluntary controls for seed certified in their own territories but cannot impose those controls for seed certified in another member state. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has a voluntary agreement with the Irish Seed Trade Association to impose zero tolerance for black grass, wild oats and sterile brome in cereal crops intended for certification in Ireland. My officials are in contact with the Irish Seed Trade Association with a view to extending this voluntary agreement to include wild flower seeds propagated in Ireland and imported wild flower species formulated into mixtures in Ireland. My Department strongly advises that only locally sourced wildflower seeds be planted and my officials are engaging with the industry to ensure locally produced seed is free of black grass.

In simple terms, my Department is taking swift and strong action to control what we can control in the short term, which is what is within our system in Ireland and the voluntary code that has worked very well for us in the past. The code is actually at a higher level than the international code, a higher level than the OECD rules and a higher level than EU regulations because we have zero tolerance. Officials from my Department therefore have a very stringent approach to inspection of all seed for certification here. It is inspected three times per year. It is visually inspected when growing and also when being assembled. There is zero tolerance; any black grass found is removed. The point about our using wild seed mixes into the future for this area is really important because the concerns the Deputy raises are very real, for tillage farmers in particular but also for commercial cereal crop growing. People with the best of intentions sowing wild seed mix might inadvertently sow an invasive species that we do not want to become widespread here in Ireland. My Department continues to keep a very close eye on this and is engaging very closely with the Irish Seed Trade Association on the matter.

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