Vol. 520 No. 1
135 Ms Clune asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the systems that are in place to ensure that seeds planted here, excluding field trials, do not contain genetically modified products; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14892/00]
Seed of agricultural crops may only be marketed or grown in Ireland if it has been certified, and entered into the national catalogue or the European common catalogue of agricultural plant varieties. EU legislation requires that seed varieties being placed on the market must be correctly labelled. There have been no genetically modified varieties entered in the national catalogue. My Department's inspectorate operates controls on the seed trade and there is no evidence of use in this country of any GM seed varieties approved by other member states.
In the light of recent accidental spread of GM seed my Department is having discussions with the Environmental Protection Agency, the competent authority for placing of genetically modified organisms on to the market. These discussions will involve consideration of whether additional measures to monitor, sample and analyse agricultural crop seed for the presence of any adventitious contamination of agricultural seed varieties in common use are required.
