Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy may be aware that an interdepartmental — interagency working group has been established within my Department to draw up strategies and best practices to ensure that efficient and effective measures for the co-existence of GM and non-GM crops are in place if farmers wish to cultivate GM crops in this country. The working group has reviewed research into GM crop production worldwide in the context of informing itself in relation to GM crop cultivation and its possible implications here in Ireland.

Currently 99% of GM cultivation takes place in four countries USA, Argentina, Canada and China, and 95% of the GM crops cultivated are confined to three crops, soya, corn-maize and cotton. Extrapolating from the information gathered into an Irish context has its limitations in that the situation in which most of the commercial GM crops are currently being cultivated are not relevant to Irish agriculture conditions.