Ulick Burke (Fine Gael)

Will the Leader make contact with the new Minister for Agriculture and Food on the item in today's press indicating that imported free-range chickens have been contaminated with traces of a potentially cancer-causing veterinary drug? The chicken is imported into all our major stores, including Dunnes Stores, Tesco and Superquinn. It is time that we, as a food producing country, had greater monitoring of imported food products. We do not know their origin or the method of production in many cases, nor do we know what has been used in their production. It is very important that we protect Irish food products against dangerous imports that are probably cheaper. Thanks to the Food Safety Authority, the contamination of the chicken has been discovered and the products have been withdrawn.