Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to be associated with the comments made by Senator Conway. I wish Senator McAleese well.

I wish to comment in the context of Senator Zappone's comments regarding Ms Orla Tinsley and the new drug that has been made available for sufferers of cystic fibrosis. I would welcome a debate in respect of the processes which are used to select the patients to whom certain drugs are made available. The Access to Cancer Treatment Bill was an effort on the part of Senator Crown and I to put in place a clear process in this regard, to ensure that, when approved by the European Medicines Agency, all drugs would be made available to all patients and that it would be a matter for the State to opt out of providing a particular drug rather than merely opting in. It was unfortunate that, during a most unruly debate on the Bill in question, Senator Crown and I were condemned for what we were trying to achieve. As already stated, I would welcome a debate on the matter to which I refer.

The main issue to which I wish to refer here is the crisis within the beef industry. In the primary part of my career, I worked in the industry for many years and I was involved - at the height of two BSE crises - in exporting 35,000 cattle per year to 46 countries across the globe. In that context, I wish to express some confidence in the industry in this country, particularly in the post-beef tribunal era. It is appropriate that the Garda has been called in, particularly if any criminality is henceforth identified. I have not yet heard anyone highlight how certain things happen within the beef industry.

If beef is bought from another country, it enters Ireland under the veterinary seal under EU regulations. Containers are met and opened at a plant in Ireland by somebody with a veterinary seal. No other country in Europe has the same level of oversight and enforcement in the beef industry as Ireland. There is no processing of beefburgers, primal cuts or other products out of sight of agricultural offices. None is packed, labelled or put into a container unless it is under a veterinary seal. Therefore, what we have is systemic failure. The Leader should ask the Minister today, irrespective of whether he is out of the country, what the Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development is doing about this matter. Are officers of Europol attending plants throughout Poland to investigate the veterinary controls in place therein?

I know from experience that post the beef tribunal Ireland has a greater level of oversight, regulation and enforcement than any other EU country. I am not saying Rangeland Foods and Silvercrest Foods do not have questions to answer but that I would be very careful about putting the entire blame on any Irish processor or producer. Has the Minister raised this issue with his European colleagues? What is being done in Poland and the other countries involved? We have heard that Spanish, Danish and Polish sources are implicated. What enforcement is there in these countries? Have the relevant Ministers asked the police to enter the various plants? This must happen because there is a European systemic failure, not one that is specific to Rangeland Foods or Silvercrest Foods.