Labour Party leader Mr Ruairí Quinn has called for the resignation of the Minister of State for Agriculture Mr Ned O'Keeffe following allegations he may have breached the Ethics in Public Office Act.
Speaking on RTÉ radio this morning Mr Quinn claimed Mr O'Keeffe had failed to declare his interest when voting against an amendment tabled in the Dáil on November 30th calling for a complete ban on the feeding of bonemeal to animals.
He said: "He failed to disclose the fact that he was a beneficiary of the maintenance of such a process."
Yesterday the Public Offices Commission announced it is investigating the matter.
The controversy centres on reports that bonemeal (legally and under licence) was being fed to pigs produced on Mr O'Keeffe's family farm.
Opposition parties accuse Mr O'Keeffe of breaching the Ethics in Public Office Act by not declaring his interest in a pig farm and that his family farm breached a voluntary quality assurance scheme by feeding pigs bonemeal.
Mr Quinn said: "The issue is about confidence in food, confidence in our regulatory system and it's about confidence in politics."
He said: "The Irish farmers are entitled to a regulatory system in which customers can have confidence. Irish consumers at home and customers abroad are entitled to be assured that the minister responsible for food quality is someone who actually believes in it and is not in fact the beneficiary of a licence which he failed to disclose."
