Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 22 Apr 1998

Vol. 489 No. 7

Written Answers. - Irish Seed Saver Association.

Trevor Sargent

Question:

184 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if his attention has been drawn to the Irish Seed Saver's Association based at Capparoe, Scariff, County Clare; the correspondence, if any, he has had with the association; and the way in which he would propose to address the primary concern of the association which is to maintain biodiversity in Irish fruit and vegetables in the face of EU regulations which diminish the genetic pool in the limited varieties of seeds available to Irish growers and farmers compared to the diverse varieties available to previous generations. [9626/98]

Minister for Agriculture and Food (Mr. Walsh)

The Irish Seed Savers' Association is a member of the Irish Genetic Resources Conservation Trust which is represented on the Advisory Committee on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. This committee was established in 1996 to advise on agricultural genetic resources conservation and on measures to preserve such resources where their survival is being threatened or endangered.

I have provided £70,000 in my Department's Vote for 1998 to support projects from bodies, including non-governmental organisations, in the identification and collection of native agricultural genetic resources as part of collaborative programmes to save these resources for posterity. Funding has already been provided to the association in 1996 and 1997 for its activities in the identification and collection of old Irish apple cultivars for the Lamb Clarke Apple collection at UCD and for identification and acquisition of indigenous varieties of cereals and their propagation with a view to utilisation and storage in gene-banks. My Department is presently considering applications received from the Irish Genetic Resources Conservation Trust on behalf of the association to continue its work on the acquisition and propagation of cereal varieties and on brassicas.

EU Directives on the marketing of seeds require that seeds must be of a certain quality standard and be of varieties represented on either the national or common catalogues of varieties. Proposals to amend these Directives are currently being considered and will support provisions for conservation of genetic resources. I am following these proposals carefully and I will support arrangements which ensure the availability of seed for growing for the purpose of conservation of our indigenous genetic resources.