I should like to thank the Chair for allowing me to raise this matter on the Adjournment. The subject matter of the question is not only of importance to Dublin but of national importance. It could have serious effects for one of our main export industries. In view of the events that led up to the situation which now obtains in regard to the export of meat to continental countries, it is very important that the full facts in relation to this matter be made known.
Dublin Corporation Abattoir, as the Minister said today, is the municipal abattoir. I suppose it could be argued technically that its primary responsibility is killing for the local trade, but the fact is that quite an extensive export trade has been carried on since at least 1943 by a number of individual private firms engaged in the export trade of dead meat and that the Minister's Department is the sole authority for the export of dead meat. There has been an attempt by the Minister to lay the blame for the situation that has now developed on Dublin Corporation. It is not possible for the Minister to exonerate himself from responsibility for the creation of this very serious situation.
There are in the abattoir, as there are in every abattoir or slaughterhouse that exports meat, permanently situated representatives of the Department of Agriculture, veterinary surgeons who are the sole authority on hygiene, equipment, containers, every conceivable aspect of the export trade, and these veterinary surgeons are employed directly by the Minister's Department.
On 26th June, 1964, a directive was issued by the EEC countries that they intended to introduce very stringent measures of hygiene on countries from which they were importing dead meat, and one would imagine it would be safe to assume that the Minister and his Department who are responsible for the whole of the dead meat export trade would keep themselves fully informed as to all the developments and trends that could in any way affect this most important export trade. The fact remains—and the Minister, in his reply to my question today, has stated—that on 15th June, 1965, a relatively minor official of his Department was in the abattoir and inspected it. He held a conversation—note, "a conversation"—with a relatively minor official of the corporation to the effect that these new EEC regulations might affect us. That is what the Minister has stated in this House; that is the concern he showed for a major industry in this country, that an informal conversation took place, on the Minister's admission, 12 months after this directive was issued by the EEC countries.
A proper question to ask at this point would be : Is this what one would expect from a man who holds a position of major importance in this country, from a man who is responsible for the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, that 12 months after a directive was issued by the EEC countries a conversation should take place between the corporation, at junior level, and an official of his Department? The Minister also stated that in 1964 he communicated with the City Manager. I am stating here tonight, in public, that the only communication received as regards conditions in the corporation abattoir in 1964 was in connection with the French trade. It specified four items that it was necessary to improve, and they were complied with immediately by Dublin Corporation. Now it is beginning to emerge where the responsibility lies. After this conversation in June, 1965, the next time we hear from the Minister's Department is on 10th September, 1965.
