John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

I want to raise an issue which was raised last week by one of my colleagues, namely, potato disease or ring rot. It has been brought to my attention – I do not know if it is correct – that the farm in Wales where the disease broke out has been exporting seed potatoes to this country for the past five years. I urge the Leader to contact the Department of Agriculture and Food to see if we can trace the farms which received potatoes from that farm in Wales. We must ensure the disease does not spread here because it has the potential to do to the potato industry what the foot and mouth disease did to the livestock industry. I urge the Leader to contact the Department of Agriculture and Food as soon as possible.