M. J. Nolan
Question:15 Mr. Nolan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the county councils who have not appointed veterinary officers under the Abattoirs Act, 1988, and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1561/97]
Other Questions. - Veterinary Officer Appointments.
All local authorities, apart from Longford and Roscommon County Councils, have appointed either full-time veterinary officers, part-time veterinary inspectors or both. I understand Longford and Roscommon County Councils are currently engaged in the recruitment of the necessary staff to undertake inspection work in abattoirs. Details of the position obtaining in each of the local authority areas where veterinary officers or veterinary inspectors have been appointed are set out in the following table.
I appreciate the financial burden of fully implementing the Abattoirs Act, 1988, and this year, for the first time, I secured Government approval to provide grant assistance to local authorities to discharge this function. I am confident all local authorities will provide full meat inspection services shortly. I will continue to monitor the situation to ensure that all local authorities meet their obligations under the Act at the earliest possible date.
Details of appointments of veterinary officers-veterinary inspectors by local authorities under the Abattoirs Act, 1988.
1. Wholetime veterinary officers have been appointed by the following local authorities on an individual or sharing basis. These full time veterinary officers are assisted by part time veterinary inspectors as required.
Carlow County Council
Clare County Council
Cork County Council
Donegal County Council
Dublin Corporation
South Dublin County Council
Fingal County Council
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council
Galway Corporation
Galway County Council
Kerry County Council
Kildare County Council
Limerick County Council
Limerick Corporation
Mayo County Council
Meath County Council
Offaly County Council
Tipperary South Riding County Council
Waterford Corporation
Waterford County Council
Westmeath County Council
Wexford County Council
Wicklow County Council
2. The following county councils have appointed part time veterinary officers for the purposes of the Act.
Cavan County Council
Kilkenny County Council
Laois County Council
Leitrim County Council
Louth County Council
Monaghan County Council
Sligo County Council
Tipperary North Riding County Council.
In view of the enormous public concern about the outbreaks of E-coli in our neighbouring country and more recently the case that came to public attention here, is the Minister satisfied that the finances his Department has provided for local authorities are sufficient for each local authority to provide ante and postmortem inspections for abattoirs? This Act was introduced in 1988 and unfortunately it has taken a long time for it to be implemented. In view of the outrage among certain sections of the public over the lack of departmental action in carrying out these inspections what will the Minister do?
This matter was first brought to my attention in detail in September 1996 when the full horror of the lack of uniform local authority cover in our 460 abattoirs became apparent. The Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry was responsible for the export of meat and has a nationwide team of VIs and TVIs but in our local abattoirs it was left to the local authority. Some local authorities had deliberately failed to meet their legal obligations. I will not hesitate to take litigation as the Minister now being given responsibility for this area against any local authority that does not meet its obligations. It is our ultimate intention that the entire slaughtering service — domestic and export — will be brought under my control and we are having discussions with the staff unions involved to take it out of the hands of the local authorities.
The Deputy referred to the issue of E-coli, which is a matter of hygiene. The inspection in regard to raw meat as against cooked meat is a matter for environmental health officers, the health service and for domestic and commercial hygiene. It is not a contagious disease in that sense. Proper hygiene and cooking procedures dispense with and destroy E-coli. Bacteria is common in our food anyway. These changes in the Abattoirs Act, 1988, did not relate to E-coli. They deal with antibiotic checks, BSE checks and all other work done in meat factories by VIs and AOs to get a uniform service across the country. A solution to this is in sight after many years with the £2 million I have secured and the national charge which is to be put in place.
I do not accept there is no connection between E-coli and the condition of animals when they go into abattoirs for slaughter. I remind the Minister there is currently a major dispute with environmental health officers and this is doing nothing to assist the consumer, on whom we depend. The Minister confirmed there has been almost a two tiered system whereby we were providing proper inspections for all our meat exporters but on the domestic market we had to do with second best, and this is not acceptable.
I agree that not only is it unacceptable, it is utterly wrong.
What will the Minister do about it?
I have spoken to people in many Departments to make sure this was put right and intensive work took place between November and December. I have written to the chairman of each local authority. I have been in regular communication, through my officials, with county managers and I told them if they do not implement this when they have got their allocations I will go to court and may revoke the licences of abattoirs to create more pressure on local councillors who may consider potholes or other services to be more important than this. I regard food safety as one of the most important public services on an interim basis before the Department takes nationwide control of it.
Does the Minister have a deadline for the transfer of responsibility from veterinary inspectors from local authorities to his Department? Will he update the House on the position in Galway as my understanding is there is no acting veterinary service there? In these days when there must be confidence in food production this is not sufficient to ensure hygiene in local butcher shops and general food outlets for which they have responsibility, never mind the E-coli horror. What is the position in Galway?
As regards the deadline for the transfer to the Department, it may take in excess of a year. My priority is to make sure that every animal slaughtered in an abattoir under the Abattoirs Act is properly policed immediately and the deadline I put in place for that was 1 January. As regards Galway, I have a list of counties to which whole-time veterinary officers have been appointed on an individual or sharing basis. These full-time veterinary officers are assisted by part-time veterinary inspectors as required. I have a further list of counties which have appointed part-time people. Both Galway Corporation and Galway County Council are on the first list, so they have appointed full-time people.
The Minister should check that.
I will.