asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries the likely position with regard to the selection of personnel for the classification of beef carcases in meat factories.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Beef Classification Scheme Personnel.
11.
As arrangements for the proposed beef classification scheme have yet to be finalised I am not in a position at this stage to make a statement on recruitment of personnel.
I wonder would the Minister tell us when it is likely the arrangements will be finalised and for how long this has been going on?
It was going on for a long time before I became Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries and it is still going on. It has been brought to a stage where we have a scheme agreed on but we cannot get agreement on how it will be operated or who will pay for it.
I can understand the difficulties but is the Minister aware—he probably is—that the farming community would be better satisfied if departmental officials were involved?
Yes.
Is it the Minister's intention to have it so?
It is purely a question of the processors not wanting to pay for the scheme. They want classification but they do not want to pay for it. Of course, in the final analysis it is the producers who will pay.
From that point of view is the Minister disposed to have the scheme operated through or by his Department?
The feeling in the Department was that it would be better to have it operated by technicians trained by the CBF, with limited supervision by the Department.