Ms Ahern, MEP:

I hope I remember all the questions. The first question was asked by Senator Lydon and it was about the Green agenda and genetically modified foods. The issue of genetically modified foods involves the World Trade Organisation and its rules. European consumers – I will not refer directly to the Green lobby which has been a strong campaigner in this regard – have been suspicious of such food finding its way to the table following the BSE problems and food scares throughout Europe. However, it is difficult to ban some things outright, as many of us would like to do, because of the rules of the World Trade Organisation and because we could be accused of protectionism when we query these matters under our health legislation. The European Union proposed stringent legislation on traceability and labelling of food and foodstuffs, which was adopted earlier this year. That is a sensible approach, which is welcome.

Ms Ahern, MEP:

Two other things must happen. The first is that there must be clear rules on liability if anything goes wrong. It is important that small farmers, for example, who use or produce such material, are not left holding the baby. The bio-technology companies, such as Monsanto, which produce such material, should be held liable if things go wrong. This is an extremely serious issue. As in the US, if we started to grow genetically modified food in Ireland, we could find ourselves in a difficult legal position. It would be stupid to do that because this is an island. Consumers throughout Europe are crying out for non-genetically modified products. We could easily provide them if we agreed with the producers in the North of Ireland to keep the island of Ireland free from genetically modified products at least until we could determine the adverse effects. Studies in the UK have shown that there are bad effects on the environment and these could lead to problems with further trials and licensing of crops.