John Carty (Fianna Fail)

I am delighted to hear it. One aspect of the debate, to which Senator O'Toole alluded, was the matter of small abattoirs and the ways they operated throughout the years. They did much good work and still do, but the local authorities and the Department keep raising the bar and have nearly put them out of business. It was very common in my part of the country to have three, four or five butchers in each town. The butchers bought lambs and nice little heifers off the local farmers, killed them and presented them well. We should remember that there was no salmonella nor any talk of it in those days. Meat was advertised as fresh lamb or beef and it certainly was fresh because it was probably only hanging for a couple of days. This was especially the case before the fair. A good kill would have taken place because sales would be good on fair day. Meat was purchased, put on the carrier of the bike and brought home. It might have taken four or five hours to get to the homestead.

I believe there is much to be said for the way in which meat was cooked. At that time most food was boiled, which was a significant factor. There were none of the modern bugs of which we hear at present.

It has not been mentioned previously but I welcome the reference to farmers' markets. They do tremendous work in allowing the local producer to present his or her wares in local towns. I realise the Minister of State is very much in favour of the concept of farmers' markets for small producers. I believe that where the markets are successful, inspectors should not be sent to regulate them excessively and put small producers out of business. There have been many reports in this regard.

The aim of the proposal is to modernise and improve EU food labelling rules. It will allow consumers to have, in a legible and understandable manner, the essential information they need to make informed purchasing choices. It attempts to ensure some uniformity in the presentation of this information throughout the 27 EU member states. The report highlighted the issue of country of origin and a problem has arisen in this regard in recent years. The problem involves meat or fish which have not been farm slaughtered or entirely prepared in Ireland but which can be labelled as Irish. Understandably, people wish to buy Irish beef and expect the meat in the supermarket to hail from Ireland if the label indicates as much.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland produced a report in 2004 which was made public in 2006. It uncovered many cases of foreign produce, such as pork, beef and salmon, being mis-labelled as Irish. Several issues raised in the previous food safety authority report have improved greatly since its publication. However, in a recent survey the authority selected at random 20 Irish honey products sourced from various manufacturers and retail outlets throughout the country. Five were found to be non-Irish, four of which were labelled as Irish, and one of which bore a misleading label of origin. This is terrible for the small producers of honey throughout the country who do a very good job and a great deal of work in producing a quality product to sell to consumers. These are the genuine producers. The statistic emerging from the report was startling. I hope the statistics will be examined, that the people involved will be brought to heel, and that we can ensure anything bought which has an Irish label is of Irish origin.

There is a tremendous market for honey at present. It is advertised as good for people's health and people now put honey into many mixes, which differs from what was done some years ago. The report also highlighted that mandatory country of origin information is required when its absence is likely to mislead. However, a report carried out for the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food consumer liaison panel indicated that 69% of consumers want specific country of origin information for all meat. I wholly agree with this report. In a country which produces so much fine beef, pork and chicken, it should be possible to guarantee that all Irish meat products of high quality are so labelled.

When one considers that we must export 85% of our produce, it is imperative that our people are guaranteed that what they purchase is of Irish origin. Some butchers still personally buy heifers or lambs and display in their shops the herd number, the name of the beast's owner and that the product is local. This is to be welcomed and I believe Irish consumers are returning to such small butchers, instead of following the more recent practice of shopping in the major multiples. While I hate mentioning any particular organisation by name, I saw packages of beef from Tesco recently on which it was noted that it had been purchased from a farm in County Offaly. It also stocked some chicken that had been purchased from a farmer in County Roscommon. Together with housewives and consumers, I welcome such developments, of which there should be far more. In conclusion, I welcome the proposed measures and again thank the Minister of State for coming into the House.