Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I reiterate that Teagasc has advised that it did not host the Dublin Declaration of scientists on the societal role of livestock. The conclusions of the summit and evidence reviewed in the summit featured in a peer-reviewed edition of the scientific journal Animal Frontiersin early 2023. Summit attendees with academic and scientific credentials were invited to endorse the evidence. As I said, no companies were involved in that. It is up to those people who wanted to put their name to it to do so after the summit but that process of putting the declaration together and the hosting of that in Animal Frontierswas not done by Teagasc. I agree completely that Teagasc held the international summit from which those conclusions emerged following the summit and it was attended, as the Deputy said, by a Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Heydon. The Dublin Declaration deals with issues and challenges for: livestock and human health; livestock and the environment; livestock and socioeconomics; and the outlook for livestock. As the Deputy indicated earlier, Teagasc hosted the function, the cost of which was approximately €40,000. The declaration emerged subsequent to the summit; it was not overseen by Teagasc at the event. I take on board all of the points the Deputy has made and Teagasc has assured me that as a State agency it has no conflict of interest when it comes to these matters. That is a matter I am sure different people will have different views on but that is its stated position.

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