Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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Question 365: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the progress made in regard to the commitment given in the Programme for Government to seek to negotiate the establishment of an all-Ireland genetically modified free zone. [18143/08]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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Several Government Departments have responsibility for aspects of GM Policy and these are:

Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government which has responsibility for the deliberate release of GM's into the environment including for crop cultivation;

Department of Health and Children which has responsibility for GM food safety and consumer protection;

Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment has responsibility for developments in the biotechnology industry and R&D; and

Department, Agriculture Fisheries and Food which has responsibility for the regulation of GM seeds, including the co-existence of GM crops to ensure compliance with GM labelling regulations and matters relating to GM feed.

The Programme for Government includes a commitment "to seek to negotiate the establishment of an all-Ireland genetically modified free zone". A process has now begun, involving the relevant Departments, to elaborate this commitment and tease out its policy implications. As part of this process it has been clarified that the commitment relates to the growing of GM crops, and is not, for example, about banning imported GM feed.