Vol. 543 No. 5
220 Mr. Creed asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the assistance which can be given by his Department to the suppliers of animals to a collapsed plant (details supplied); if his Department can verify the slaughter of 16 animals supplied by a person (details supplied) in County Cork at the plant; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27582/01]
In the circumstances where a meat factory goes out of business the recovery of any moneys due to farmers is a matter for resolution between them and the company's liquidators and my Department has no responsibility in the matter.
It is not possible to verify the slaughter of specific animals without the relevant tag numbers. However, my Department's cattle movement monitoring system database shows that 18 animals from the herd in question were slaughtered at the plant on 5 October 2001.
