Vol. 474 No. 4
43 Mr. Dempsey asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the plans, if any, there are by the Government to build a new national waste disposal facility in the context of his overall responsibility for waste management policy and the preparation of a report for the Government on the feasibility of various options, including incineration, to deal with the BSE crisis. [1567/97]
The terms of reference of the interdepartmental committee which was established by the Government in August 1996 were to examine all options with regard to the disposal of slaughterhouse animal waste material, in particular categories of material which cannot be incorporated in animal feed. The committee forwarded an interim report to Government on October and an updated report in December.
On the basis of the latter report and developments since then the Government has decided on the following policy.
Legislation to deal with specified risk material is being introduced in the near future. Under that legislation specified risk material which is defined as the skull, including the brain and eyes but excluding the tongue, and spinal cord from cattle, sheep and goats over one year and the spleen from sheep or goats will not be permitted to enter the animal feed chain.
The specified risk material will be processed separately and stored for the time being pending a decision on its final disposal.
Various options for the disposal of this product are under active consideration.
