The Progressive Democrats demanded a new government department to promote a goodfood policy. It should be independent of the Department of Agriculture and headed by a full cabinet minister, Ms Mair in Quill (PD) said. It was necessary to give due primacy to food quality and safety, she believed.
Consumer confidence had been severely eroded, mainly due to scares from outbreaks of BSE, E.coli, salmonella, chemical residues, illegal growth promoters and contaminated animal feed. The foot-andmouth scare had only served to compound the problem. The cornerstone of food policy should be traceability.
Mr John Dardis (PD), said the fundamental contradiction in the Department of Agriculture's role as the promoter of food production and its role as the regulator of the industry would have to be resolved so that we could promote environmentally friendly production.
Responding, Dr Tom Moffatt, Minister of State responsible for food safety, said the development of the very closely related agriculture and food sectors had been assigned to the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development. "We have it right, so let's not blow it now."
Ms Mary Jackman (FG) suggested that Mr Kieran Mulvey might be the only person to resolve the teachers' dispute. Mr David Norris (Ind) had doubts about involving a former leader of ASTI.
It seemed extraordinary that no Minister had attended the EU meeting in Brussels earlier this week on human trafficking, Dr Mary Henry (Ind) said.
We had been well represented by the Ambassador, Mr O'Leary, "but in view of the fact that this is such a serious problem and the Minister is bringing forward legislation on it, it seems extraordinary that no one from the Government could be found to go to that very important meeting.
"I gather that the financial gains from trafficking people into the EU are now greater than trafficking drugs, and we all know how much money is made out of drugs," she said.