Vol. 435 No. 1
23 Mrs. Owen asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if current EC plant health regulations require garden centres selling plants to retail customers to tag each individual plant of the varieties listed by his Department; if he has satisfied himself that these regulations provide a practical means of tracking and preventing plant diseases; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
39 Ms F. Fitzgerald asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if current EC plant health regulations require garden centres selling plants to retail customers to tag each individual plant of the varieties listed by his Department; if he has satisfied himself that these regulations provide a practical means of tracking and preventing plant diseases; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 23 and 39 together.
The new Single Market controls operative within the EC since 1 June, 1993 include a provision that a limited number of plant species be accompanied to the final consumer by a plant passport in the form of a label. Such label denotes that the production area of the plants in question has been officially inspected and found to be free of the more serious diseases and pests.
The species which requires passports in this country relate to diseases and pests which could affect the more important crops grown here. In the garden centre area, the most important disease is fireblight which can damage a range of fruit and ornamental plants.
