Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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I am grateful for the opportunity to raise this sensitive issue. It relates to the employment practices and recruitment policy of Safefood, an all-island agency responsible for food protection on the island of Ireland. It saddens me to raise this issue. Is the Minister of State informing me that he is not taking the adjournment? The Minister is not in the Chamber yet. Must I wait for a Government representative to appear? It is somewhat strange considering Deputy Smith is the Minister of State in the Department of Agriculture and Food.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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The Food Safety Authority comes under the Department of Health and Children.

Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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I realise that but it is part of the Deputy's responsibility.

Séamus Pattison (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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The Deputy may proceed.

Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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If the Leas-Cheann Comhairle will allow me I will give the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Brian Lenihan, the opportunity to hear how I opened my contribution.

This is an issue of some sensitivity and relates to the recruitment practices and employment policy of Safefood, one of the important North-South bodies established in recent years. It saddens me that it is necessary to raise this matter. As I will explain, I have used other mechanisms to ascertain information but that information has not been of a sufficient standard or appropriate. It particularly saddens me as a Cork Deputy, as Safefood is based in the Cork area, however there are important issues of accountability that the Minister of State on behalf of the Government should take the opportunity to place on the record.

My interest in this issue was sparked by a constituent, Mr. John Masson of Currabinny, County Cork, who applied for a position of co-ordinator of the research team on investigating the spread and control of cryptosporidium. This was a five-year, part-time position that paid €10,000 per year. That position is subject to hearings in authorities in this State and Northern Ireland and I do not want to compromise the decision. However, it is clear the process, which involved only three candidates, seems to have been solved by some form of osmosis and Safefood is guilty, at the very least, of gross discourtesy to two candidates on how decisions were made, who was given the eventual position and the appropriate qualifications that such persons have. One of the candidates is my constituent and another, Dr. John Moore from Ballymena, County Antrim, is in the Gallery. As I said, the position will be ascertained by both authorities in the North and the South. It leaves a bad taste about the confidence in which the agency can be held.

I have asked two parliamentary questions in this House, both of which were addressed to the Office of the Taoiseach, given that he had prime responsibility for establishing North-South bodies on behalf of the Government. Both questions were referred to the Minister for Health and Children, who has responsibility for Safefood, and she, as the senior Minister transferred them to her Minister of State, Deputy Seán Power. The answers received on the number of complaints against Safefood on recruitment practices and employment policies were incorrect and this has added more fuel to the fire.

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Were there two complaints?

Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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There were more than two complaints and I will explain how that arose. Either Safefood has supplied the Minister with incorrect information or — I do not even want to think in these terms — the House has been misled. I subsequently received a communication from Dr. Cherie Millar, also from Ballymena, County Antrim, who in 2004 applied for a full-time position as chief specialist of microbiology with the science and technical directorate of Safefood. This ongoing complaint was not recorded in either of the answers to my recent questions. I seek a reply and if it is not in the Minister's prepared answer it should be supplied at the soonest opportunity. It leads to an accumulated lack of confidence that the information supplied by Safefood and the practices it deploys are not what they should be. It is vital that recruitment by all-island bodies is seen to be done correctly. The essence of Dr. Millar's complaint, which was subsequently sent in a substantial portfolio to the Taoiseach, was that the employment statement published by Safefood was not followed and in a key respect was demonstrably flawed. Advertisements for this important position were placed only in The Irish News, Lá and Foinse but not in the media of the other tradition in Northern Ireland, namely The Belfast Newsletter or The Belfast Telegraph. On these grounds a substantial wrong has been done on recruitment procedures.

The other issue I would like to raise is that Safefood has, either unwittingly or intentionally, offended people. In issuing invitations to a network for scientists and doctors involved in the study of cryptosporidium it sent out a series of mixed messages to many scientists who work on the island of Ireland, another of whom is in the Gallery tonight——

Séamus Pattison (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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I should point out that it is not in order to refer to people in the public Gallery.

Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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I respect the Leas-Cheann Comhairle's ruling on that.

Séamus Pattison (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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It is a Standing Order.

Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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I am merely pointing out the source of my information, which I received from Dr. Rao. This doctor received an invitation from Safefood, as did other doctors of foreign extraction including Chinese and Japanese. The invitation was framed in such a way that it seemed to exclude people working in the field who may not have been Irish. To send out documentation of this nature speaks of a culture in Safefood that must be addressed quickly. On those grounds, the fact that ongoing complaints are being dealt with by authorities North and South, that wrong information has been supplied in answers to two parliamentary questions and that Safefood is sending information that is needlessly insensitive to the feelings of the people with whom it should be working closely, I appeal to the Minister to pass on the information to the Government, particularly to the four Ministers who have been contacted on this, the Taoiseach, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Minister for Health and Children, to implement the parity of esteem that should exist in all North-South bodies and to give meaning to the respect agenda about which we hear others in the House speak.

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I am taking this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children. I thank Deputy Boyle for raising this matter as it gives the Minister an opportunity to outline to this House the position on this matter. The Food Safety Promotion Board, Safefood, is a North-South implementation body established under the Good Friday Agreement. Its remit is to promote awareness and knowledge of food safety issues on an all-island basis. The Deputy has raised this issue via parliamentary questions on four previous occasions this year, the most recent being Question No. 230 on Tuesday, 4 April last. In replying to those questions the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Seán Power, stated the Department was not aware of complaints on employment practices or recruitment procedures. However, the Department was advised that Safefood has received two complaints on the appointment of a co-ordinator for a research network on cryptosporidium. Deputy Boyle maintains there were more than two and I will draw this to the attention of the Department.

The co-ordinator's role attracts a grant of €10,000 per annum for a period of five years to facilitate the setting up and maintenance of the research network, but it is not considered by Safefood to be a contract of employment.

The complaints are currently being processed by the appropriate employment equality machinery, one within this jurisdiction and one within Northern Ireland. Officials of the Department have been advised by Safefood that no additional complaints of this nature are being dealt with by the body. The position as set out previously to the Deputy remains unchanged and the Tánaiste fails to see how this issue could have been addressed more fully.