Mary Henry (Independent)

I thank Senator O'Toole for sharing his time and what I have to say follows what the Senator has said. We are dealing with very old fashioned and complicated systems of animal identification, as Senator O'Toole has just said. I have asked the Department why it is not inclined to make progress with more modern methods of identification – for example, DNA testing methods such as Identigene which has been produced at Trinity College, Dublin. This had a better reception from the former Minister for Agriculture in Northern Ireland, Ms Bríd Rodgers, than from the Department of Agriculture and Food here. We must get more modern methods of identification into our animal production schemes.

We will have to sell on quality. People were horrified by what was described as the "Celticisation" of Cumbrian sheep which were taken from Scotland to Northern Ireland and then here. They were then apparently "Irish" lambs to be sold to the Paris market. We do not discuss EU directives until they are a fait accompli and I particularly recommend to the Minister that we become involved in the standardisation of analytical aspects of laboratory work.

EU Directive ISO 17025-2000 has been issued recently and it focuses on the analytical aspects of laboratory work and all the functions that support it. This is an international standard and mandatory for laboratories carrying out testing and calibration of goods destined for the European market. It is also mandatory for medical microbiology laboratories in Ireland which carry out a public health function for food control and, under EU legislation, are approved by the Department of Health and Children as food testing laboratories. This is a generic led standard for all laboratories carrying out testing and calibration functions.

Many medical professionals are divided on the suitability of this standard. It deals with category three facilities such as e.coli 0157 which in the last 20 years has become such a problem with beef. Could we get in on the discussions on these directives before we are sent a fait accompli? These directives are interpreted totally differently in other countries and we are left out on a limb by our interpretation of them.