Feargal Quinn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I propose an amendment to the Order of Business, namely, that No. 14, the Critical Utilities (Security of Supply) Bill 2013, be taken before No. 1 today.

A surprising figure I saw during the week concerned a reduction in the number of turkeys produced in Ireland. I gather we will import 1.7 million turkeys this year. Six or seven years ago we were producing 3.5 million turkeys, but the number produced this year will be fewer than 1 million. I wonder what has happened. The vast majority of Irish citizens do not know the turkeys they are buying are imported. The reason is that we do not provide that information.

Some months ago, we considered the Food Provenance Bill 2013 in the House. The Minister said at the time that he was in agreement with everything in the Bill but that he would like to delay it until the European Union introduced its legislation. I gather that legislation will be coming into force next April. At this stage, we should be doing something more than we are doing. I do not believe the vast majority of Irish citizens will know, even with the EU legislation, the provenance of the products they buy. We should be able to identify the sources of products, even where a product contains items from different countries. Second Stage of the Food Provenance Bill was read well. The Minister asked us to hold on until he decided to make further progress on it. I urge him to allow the Bill to proceed or introduce his own version of it in the near future.