asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food in view of the fact that certain blight sprays for potatoes have been withdrawn from sale by the Ministry of Agriculture in England if he will take similar steps to ensure that similar type sprays are not offered for sale in Ireland.
Written Answers. - Blight Sprays.
34.
I am not aware of any ban imposed in Britain on particular potato blight sprays. However, in January of this year the UK Ministry of Agriculture announced a ban on pesticides containing Dinoseb.
The position here is that data relating to all pesticides containing Dinoseb had to be submitted to my Department for review by 4 April last. This was required under existing statutory regulations as part of a review of all pesticides on the market. No applications for the clearance of Dinoseb-based pesticides were in fact received, it has therefore, been illegal to market or use such pesticides since 4 April 1988. Any Dinoseb-based pesticide found on the market after that date may be seized and persons found to be in breach of the regulations may be prosecuted.