Marie Moloney (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I add my voice to the tributes being paid to Senator McAleese and wish him all the best in his future endeavours. I also wish to raise the issue raised recently by Senator O'Donovan, namely, the fact that another factory has been identified as a source of products containing equine DNA. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine must act quickly on this matter. I know he has referred it to the special investigation unit of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and asked the Garda to join that investigation, but that is not enough to safeguard our beef industry. Our industry is worth over ¤2.7 billion and we cannot have any negative publicity abroad that will affect our exports. I appreciate that horsemeat will not kill one but if one buys a product that says "beef", the very least one can expect it to be is beef, without any other ingredients in it. It has been determined that the ingredients came from another EU country which I expect should come under the same regulations as this country and be subject to the same checks to which Ireland is subject. We must restore and maintain consumer confidence in our beef industry and exports. This is why I am asking the Minister to act swiftly on this and not let it go on any longer. He must put this issue to bed and restore our good name abroad. If the Minister has time, perhaps he might come to the House so that we can have a debate on the matter and find out how it could have happened again. Did we not learn anything from the beef tribunal? It is time to put this issue to bed.