I should like to be associated with the tributes paid to a former colleague of mine as a Member of the Seanad from 1965 to 1969, the late Senator Dinny Eoin O'Sullivan. I was a Member of this House during that period and I would like to be associated with the tributes paid to him by the House and also with the sympathy expressed for his family. I hope Senators will understand that I do not want to indicate any discourtesy to the House if I am not able at this point to hear the preliminary statements of the leaders of the parties on this legislation. I had arranged a programme today so that I would be able to hear their statements but I mistakenly assumed that I might be starting this speech earlier. I have made alternative arrangements but I will be back in the House later on.
The fundamental aim of this Bill is to meet the need for a comprehensive and uniform set of national quality standards for slaughtering of meat for the home market. Changed trading practices and increased consumer awareness in recent years have shown also that many of the existing controls in this area need to be updated. The Bill also provides for a new system of controls on meat disposals for non-human use.
A significant aspect of the Bill is that for the first time it gives my Department a pivotal role in the control and regulation of the domestic meat trade. Hitherto this trade was regulated by a large number of virtually autonomous local sanitary authorities operating through some full time but in the main part time veterinary officials and in certain respects by the regional health boards through their environmental health officers.
For many years concern has been expressed about conditions at abattoirs providing meat for the home market. The main criticism has been that these abattoirs operate under much lower standards than the export plants. A survey of abattoirs and knackeries conducted in 1982 by my Department indicated that there were 854 local abattoirs in operation. While high standards prevailed in many, some premises were found to be old and insanitary, difficult to keep clean and far short of the standards considered necessary for any food premises. Together, these premises handle an annual slaughtering throughput of 230,000 cattle, 790,000 sheep and 320,000 pigs, representing the vast bulk of this country's home meat requirements.
Local abattoirs are supervised by veterinary inspectors employed by the sanitary authorities and/or environmental health officers from the health boards. The lack of proper and uniform standards is partly due to this diffusion of control and also to the fact that outside the major centres of population the veterinary inspectors are for the most part employed on a part time basis only. Of 160 veterinary inspectors employed in the local authority veterinary service only 24 are full time employees and these full time officers are concentrated in only nine local authority areas.
By contrast, there are some 70 factories engaged in the export trade, including licensed bacon plants, which are comparatively modern and well equipped. They operate under the full time supervision of officers from my Department with over 250 personnel, including 64 veterinary inspectors, so engaged. This corps of full time officers is backed up by some 400 private veterinary practitioners who are employed at the plants on a part time basis. The cost of this supervision is met by the imposition of a fee on each animal slaughtered. These export factories have to comply with stringent national, EC and third country requirements in regard to premises and equipment, slaughtering standards and hygiene, and most of the Bill's provisions will not, of course, apply to them. While this Bill and the regulations to be made thereunder will not attempt to convert local abattoirs into export meat plants, many of the provisions, particularly in the area of hygiene, will mirror the controls applicable on the export side.
As regards knackeries it must be acknowledged that a valuable and practical service is rendered to the farming community by the majority of these premises. However, I am not satisfied that the activities of all correspond with the best interests of both public and animal health and this is the reason for tightening up the controls applicable to the knackeries as provided for in the Bill.
Existing legislation, some of it dating from the mid 19th century, places responsibility for the control of local abattoirs and knackeries on 87 sanitary authorities. This legislative maze is further complicated by the separate, existence of 11 local improvement Acts each of which contains provisions relating to abattoirs within the area of the sanitary authority concerned. It could be said that the present unsatisfactory position regarding local slaughtering premises is at least partly due to both the number and the antiquated nature of the laws themselves just as much as it is to the discretionary powers they give to sanitary authorities to administer them. Some authorities have not adopted meat inspection by-laws and only some 70 per cent of abattoirs are licensed. Add to that the predominantly part time veterinary control exercised over these premises and it is easy to understand the variations in standards and practices as applied from county to county. Moreover, the penalties for breaches of the existing legislation are so small as to render prosecutions largely ineffective.
These divergent standards are also manifested in the trading area and nowhere more so than in the pigmeat sector. The House is aware that the pigmeat industry has been going through difficult times. Increased competition on the home and export markets has presented the licensed bacon plants with serious problems. Rationalisation within the industry has already taken place and, indeed, more must follow if the industry is to secure and develop its position in the economy. In this connection, earlier this month I announced a major programme for the development of the industry to enable it to exploit export market opportunities. Currently only 25 per cent of pigs slaughtered are exported. The bulk of the kill therefore is chasing a market in which significant inroads have been made by local pork butchers in the last five years. Pig slaughterings by pork butchers have increased by 70 per cent during this period. The licensed bacon plants are thus being placed at a competitive disadvantage vis-a-vis their unlicensed competitors owing to the cost of observing stringent hygiene standards and meeting veterinary inspection fees. Unless competitive equality can be restored to the home market I can see prices paid to pig producers suffering in the long term. Through the extension of veterinary controls, including fees, to all local slaughterings this Bill should also provide useful assistance to the pigmeat industry as a whole.
The butchers' trade itself has been undergoing change. The growth of wholesaling and the development of slaughtering facilities by wholesaling establishments have cut the number of private abattoirs by about 350 since the early seventies. Slaughtering for their own businesses would appear to have become unattractive for many small butchers particularly at a time when labour and other costs were continually increasing. Consumer preferences and concerns have also pushed the trade into change. The battle is on at present to arrest an unwelcome decline in home consumption of meat and I am glad to say that it appears to be succeeding. Other challenges to be met include meat substitutes, the prospect of increased imports of fresh meat and meat products and new EC controls on domestic meat supplies. Clearly, the trade needs to be flexible and adaptive now more than ever. To their credit, the majority in the trade recognise the need for fresh ground rules on the preparation of meat and also the need to root out the cowboy operators who can give the trade a bad name. Most of our abattoirs are owned by family butchers, many of whom have been in the trade for generations. Their name and good reputation underpin the quality of their meat and in meeting fresh challenges, this Bill will greatly assist them in making the transition from the old to the new while securing an enhanced reputation for the meat they produce.
The Bill proposes two major divisions of responsibility aimed at improving standards namely: licensing of premises by my Department and veterinary control of premises, including supervision of all slaughterings, to be vested in the 27 county councils and the 5 county borough corporations.
As I mentioned earlier, because licensing of premises is lax in many areas and given the Bill's objective of establishing a national domestic standard on a par with export standards, there is a need for a central licensing body, at least in the short term. My Department, who for long has been closely involved with the export meat plants, have the necessary expertise to do this job. I am providing, however, that the licensing function may be returned to local authorities if it is found desirable or necessary to do so at a future stage. Under the new arrangements, every abattoir and knackery will have to be licensed annually and a licence fee in the range of £10 to £100 will be payable. Proprietors will be allowed time to bring their premises up to standard where this is called for and appeals to the Circuit Court are being provided for in the event of refusal or revocation of a licence. Licensing will commence soon after the Bill's enactment.
The Government have decided that enforcement of the new veterinary controls should continue to be exercised at local level. Each of the major local authorities will be required to employ sufficient veterinary inspectors to ensure effective implementation of the controls. Each authority, or where warranted a combination of not more than two authorities, must employ at least one full time officer. It is envisaged that the existing experienced local authority veterinary staff structure will form the nucleus for the necessary staffing to implement the Bill's provisions. All slaughterings will be subject to veterinary examination by way of ante and post-mortem inspection and all meat found fit for human consumption will be stamped with a health mark. There will also be regular inspections of knackeries. Veterinary inspection fees will be introduced on slaughterings at local abattoirs at the same levels as those applicable at the export plants. The revenue which will accrue to the local authorities from these fees is expected to be sufficient to cover staffing and other costs. Application of these new controls will have to be deferred to allow time for the recruitment of full-time veterinary inspectors. I would hope, however, that the Bill's provisions will be fully operational within six months of enactment.
At present, full supervision of slaughterings, including the charging of inspection fees, is conducted by a very small minority of local authorities, notably in Dublin and Cork where all meat for human consumption carries a health mark. It is not good enough that full slaughtering controls should be confined to a handful of areas. As I mentioned earlier, this Bill will provide a national standard and one which can be readily identified by consumers. It will provide an assurance to the Irish housewife that meat being sold on the home market has been prepared under hygienic conditions, is fresh, wholesome and in every way fit for human consumption. In this way also it should provide a major fillip to the trade in its efforts to increase consumption of red meat.
Section 2 contains definitions of the terms used in the Bill. While poultry is excluded from the definition of animal I am satisfied that slaughterings at non-export poultry plants are adequately covered under the food hygiene regulations. Similarly, deer and rabbits are excluded from the definition, as commercial slaughterings of such species are, in the main, aimed at export markets and as such are already subject to controls. Should the situation arise where such species are slaughtered in significant numbers for the home market at our local abattoirs they can be brought within the scope of the Bill under subsection (3) of this section. However, to cater for poultry slaughterings, leading up to Christmas time especially, and also for the occasional deer found in local abattoirs, provision is being made under section 39 (3) for such slaughterings to be subjected to veterinary examination. Requests were made on grounds of illegal slaughtering to have farmer slaughtering made subject to the Bill's provisions but I feel that "abattoir" as defined is sufficiently tight to prevent any abuses. Farmer slaughtering is both traditional and in casualty cases necessary in Irish farming. Sufficient controls will exist through the proposed full time local authority veterinary inspectorate structure coupled with stamping of meat and trade vigilance to counter any abuse of this facility. However, should abuse occur I can, by order under section 2 (3) (c), redefine abattoir to include farm slaughterings.
The repeals referred to in section 3 have been divided into three parts to permit each part to be brought into operation at different times. Part I of the First Schedule will come into effect in the first phase, i.e., licensing of premises by my Department; Part II will come into effect when the regulations for veterinary inspection are operational and Part III will be brought into effect when my colleague, the Minister for Health, makes an amendment to the food hygiene regulations to update those regulations in relation to the transport of food, including meat.
Section 4 excludes licensed bacon and export meat plants from the Bill's provisions as they are already closely regulated by my Department. Similarly, on the knackery front and as provided for in section 2 (1), the Bill will not apply to any premises where animal waste undergoes processing such as rendering plants, meat and bone meal plants, etc. Such plants will be the subject of a separate set of processed animal protein controls which I will be making under the Diseases of Animals Act, 1966. These controls will, complement the knackery provisions under this Bill. The Acts referred to in section 5 contain provisions in relation to markets, slaughterhouses and offensive trades generally including power by local authorities to make by-laws in relation to same. As full repeal of these provisions would not be appropriate the application of certain sections of the Acts in question is restricted under this section.
Sections 8 to 10 deal with abattoir licences and make it unlawful for a person to use any premises as an abattoir unless he holds a licence issued by my Department. A licence will be valid for 12 months from the date of issue. An annual licence fee at the following rates will be payable: for abattoirs with annual slaughterings of fewer than 500 animals, £10; between 500-1,000 animals, £50 and in excess of 1,000 animals, £100. I estimate that roughly speaking 40 per cent of premises will attract the £10 fee, 40 per cent the £50 fee and 20 per cent, the £100 fee. Where a licence is refused the fee paid will be refunded. The fees may be altered by way of regulations should the cost of licensing tend to outstrip the revenue received. Section 11 sets down the conditions which must be satisfied before an abattoir licence will be granted or renewed. I am also providing in this section that the licence may limit the class and number of animals which may be slaughtered and that a distinctive number or letter may be assigned to every licensed premises.
Section 12 provides for the keeping of a central record of licences issued. This central record will be useful for control and reference purposes and also in the event of a dispute or prosecution. Equally, it is intended that premises operating under a permit as opposed to a licence, and as provided for in section 17, would be included in such record. Section 13 provides that a licence will not be transferable but, on the death of a licence holder, the licence will continue in effect for the benefit of the personal representative of the deceased for two months or longer as circumstances may dictate. Sections 14 and 15 set out the grounds for licence refusal or revocation including information to the applicant or licence holder on appeal procedures. As the licensing authority, it would be wrong of me to sit in judgment in an appeal situation. Accordingly, section 16 allows for appeals to the Circuit Court.
Arising from the 1982 survey of premises, which I mentioned earlier, it would seem likely that quite a number of premises will require modifications, in varying degree, to achieve the required standard. To meet this situation, I am providing, under section 17, for a permit system, somewhat like a provisional licence, for a transitional period of five years. A permit will be issued for a specified duration and will be renewable, if necessary, to allow proprietors time to bring their premises up to standard. It will have the same validity as a licence for all purposes, including fees under this Bill. I propose to have the permit indicate the improvements required, be they structural or in relation to equipment or otherwise. No permit will be granted for a premises which is quite clearly incapable of being brought up to standard. Having regard to the increased number of inspections which will be necessary in the case of a premises operating under permit and in an effort to speed up the works required, it is proposed to charge the appropriate fee each time the permit is renewed. This permit system will only apply to abattoirs currently in existence which are capable of being brought up to standard.
From a public health point of view, section 18 is important. It empowers an authorised officer, specifically authorised to do so under section 54 (2), to direct in writing the closure of any premises, or part thereof, or the cessation of slaughterings where there is grave and immediate danger to public health arising from either activities on the premises or the manner in which such slaughterings are being conducted. Such power will be of a suspensory nature in that the written direction may specify what needs to be put right before the premises may be reopened or slaughterings may be resumed. The section also provides for recourse to the District Court for persons who feel aggrieved by such action.
All sanitary authorities have power derived from section 105 of the Public Health (Ireland) Act 1878 to provide public abattoirs. At present the county boroughs of Galway and Limerick and the urban district councils of Ennis, Kilrush, Longford and Tralee own public abattoirs but only that at Galway is being operated by the county borough. The rest are either leased or closed. I am repealing existing powers on the provision of such abattoirs and, while I feel that in present circumstances there is unlikely to be any need for new public abattoirs, I consider it prudent to retain this option for any county council or county borough corporation who might wish to provide such a facility in the future subject, of course, to the licensing arrangements in this Bill. This is being done under section 19. The control of operations within slaughtering premises will be set out by me in regulations to be made under section 20. These regulations will embrace such matters as lairaging and the times at which slaughter may take place, meat preparation and processing, the hygiene of staff, premises and equipment and the storage and disposal of animal wastes. As to the times of slaughtering, these will be fixed by the local authorities in consultation with the local trade. The primary consideration will be, however, that they must be at times which facilitate the veterinary inspection of all slaughtered animals.
Part III of the Bill contains similar provisions in relation to knackeries. Two sections in this Part of the Bill, however, warrant particular mention. In view of the activities of a number of rogue operators on the meat supply scene, section 22 places an absolute prohibition on the sale for human consumption of any meat which has originated in a knackery. From both the public health and animal health points of view, section 23 is important. Knackeries owe their existence to the very causes affecting the health of our national herd. They operate on the periphery of our agricultural scene without adequate controls on their activities. As I mentioned earlier, they perform a very necessary service to local farmers and butchers in collecting and disposing of dead animals and animal wastes. For hunt and greyhound kennels involved in the business it is a very practical and economic undertaking. The sad fact is, however, that some knackers are less than scrupulous in their activities and others just careless when it comes to animal health or environmental matters. This section will bring these premises under strict control. It will enable me to make regulations controlling sales from these premises such as minced meat at greyhound tracks, supplies to cats' and dogs' homes, etc. Advertising for dead or casualty animals will be regulated and the maintenance of specified records of animals handled in such premises will be obligatory. I hope that in this way also we will be able to get a better picture of animal losses and the causes of these losses.
Section 35 requires each local authority to employ sufficient veterinary inspectors, at least one of whom must be full time, to enforce the Bill's veterinary control provisions. Apart from supervision of the domestic meat trade the local authority veterinary service has a range of other functions. These include supervision of dairies and the liquid milk trade, organisation of the sheep dipping programme and attending to sheep scab outbreaks and other scheduled animal diseases. As the Minister responsible for the local authority veterinary service I am only too well aware that, in the absence of a full time presence, attention to all such duties cannot but be less than satisfactory. As I mentioned earlier, veterinary control and inspection of meat and milk for the home market in over two thirds of the country is done solely on a part time basis. The provisions of section 35 will redress this situation through the establishment of a corps of permanent official veterinarians throughout the country. Subsection (4) of this section will allow any two local authorities, subject to my consent, to pool together for the purpose of making the full time veterinary appointments required. This facility is being provided to cater for a small number of local authority areas where it makes more sense, either logistically or on financial grounds, to combine for the purpose of providing a full time veterinary service.
Section 36 requires each local authority to provide for the allocation of a veterinary inspector to each abattoir at the designated slaughtering times and periodically at knackeries to enforce the Bill's provisions. Administratively, it should make for far better management to have the local authority veterinary service functioning under the 32 major local authorities as opposed to the present situation where 87 sanitary authorities are involved. Accordingly, sections 37 and 38 provide for the transfer of the existing veterinary staff and the functions and records relating thereto, from sanitary authorities to their corresponding county councils or county borough corporations. Section 39 allows me to make veterinary examination regulations towards establishing the fitness of meat for human consumption.
This Bill will provide a guarantee that the meat leaving our abattoirs is in all respects fit for human consumption. It is important, therefore, that consumers can readily recognise that the meat they are buying has undergone and passed veterinary inspection. The application of a health mark to such meat will provide this assurance. Equally important, having regard to meat wholesaling particularly, will be the control and tracing facility inherent in such marking. The health marking arrangements are set out in sections 40 to 42. Under section 40 I will be making regulations prescribing the type of mark, and how and by whom it is to be applied. Section 41 details the conditions which must be complied with before a health mark may be applied to meat while section 42 will make it an offence to sell, supply or have possession of meat which does not bear an approved health mark. Section 43 will allow the section 39 provisions on veterinary examination to apply in the case of meat undergoing inspection at meat export plants. This is particularly important in the context of new controls regarding antibiotic and hormonal residues in meat which if present will mean that such meat may not be passed as fit for human consumption here at home or in export markets.
Sections 44 to 46 deal with the payment of veterinary inspection fees which will be payable on each animal slaughtered at the following rates per head: cattle £3.25, pigs £0.75 and sheep £0.55. These fees are the same as those applicable in the export meat plants and will be payable by the licence holder to the local authority. Provision is also being made to allow for the fees to be altered, or to vary the classes of animals in respect of which the fees are payable, by way of regulations having prior Dáil and Seanad approval.
The opportunity is being taken in this Bill to update a number of relevant provisions in other legislation as set out in Part VI. The Slaughter of Animals Act, 1935, governs the humane treatment of animals being slaughtered and the licensing of slaughtermen. It is operated by the sanitary authorities and its provisions are equally applicable to the meat export plants. Section 47 amends this Act by providing for the transfer of its administration to the major local authorities in tandem with a similar transfer under this Bill. It also provides for an increase to £500 in the fines under the Act which range from only £5 to £50 at present. The meat export plants and the licensed bacon plants are regulated under the provision of the Agricultural Produce (Fresh Meat) Acts 1930 to 1978, and the Pigs and Bacon Acts, 1935 to 1961, respectively. Amendments are being made to these Acts under sections 48 and 50 to bring the fees and fines into line with those proposed for abattoirs under this Bill. Section 49 amends the Milk and Dairies Acts, 1935 and 1956 by transferring responsibility for milk and dairies from sanitary authorities to the major local authorities in line with the transfer of responsibility for abattoirs. Under the Bovine Diseases (Levies) Act, 1979, one of the levies payable is in respect of each bovine slaughtered in the State. Section 51 amends the provisions in that Act relating to animals slaughtered at local abattoirs by providing that an abattoir will mean one licensed or permitted under this Bill. Under section 52 a similar amendment is being made to the CBF Act, 1979.
Section 53 provides for the appointment of authorised officers both from my Department and by the local authorities. I envisage that the officers to be appointed by me will, in the main, be veterinary inspectors drawn from the meat export plants whose involvement would be confined to the annual licensing of premises. The authorised officers to be appointed by the local authorities would again, in the main, be their veterinary corps. These officers will be concerned with slaughtering inspections, detection of unlicensed premises and overall implementation of the Bill's provisions in their particular area. Section 54 confers powers of entry on and inspection of abattoirs and knackeries, or vehicles and containers used in connection therewith, and seizure of meat by authorised officers and by members of the Garda Síochána.
The existing penalties for failure to licence an abattoir or for violation of slaughtering by-laws are no more than £5 under the Towns Improvement Clauses Act, 1847. This has given rise to situations whereby it was quite profitable for a slaughterer to continue in breach of the rules and face only this minimal penalty. Section 56 increases the penalties considerably. The new penalties will have maximum fines of £1,000 or six months imprisonment or both on summary conviction and £10,000 or three years imprisonment or both on indictment. The level of these penalties should present a real deterrent to any would-be offenders. As public health is the primary consideration I make no excuses for raising them to those levels. Should it be found necessary to do so at some future stage, I am also making provision to enable these fines to be increased by way of regulations which again would be subject to prior Dáil and Seanad approval. Sections 57 and 58 deal with prosecutions. Either a local authority or myself will be empowered to prosecute offences but I envisage that in most instances prosecutions will be brought by the local authority.
Under section 59 licence holders will be required to keep records of animals slaughtered. Section 60 will allow me to monitor the application of the Bill's provisions in each area through returns to be made by the local authorities. These returns will be important also from a statistical point of view in that they will give an accurate picture of slaughterings for the home trade. They will also help to identify, to a greater extent, diseases affecting stock and to indicate whether they are cyclical or localised disease outbreaks. Section 61 will enable me to make regulations prescribing the requirements in relation to the construction, lay-out, siting, water supply and equipment of abattoirs and knackeries. It also provides that these requirements may be modified in relation to existing premises. These standards will be reasonable and realistic and should be attainable by the majority of butchers. The emphasis will be on hygiene which is a basic requirement in any food premises. Local authority by-laws relating to abattoirs and knackeries and the inspection of meat will no longer be necessary as regulations to be made under this Bill will lay down the standards to be observed. Section 62, therefore, has the effect of cancelling any such by-laws once the corresponding provisions of the Bill come into operation. Similarly, any by-laws relating to meat transport will be superseded by amended food hygiene regulations in relation to the transport of food.
Section 66 provides that all licence fees received by me will be paid into the Exchequer. Such fees are expected to amount to some £40,000 annually and should be sufficient to cover the cost of licensing. As I mentioned earlier, the veterinary inspection fees will accrue to the local authorities. These are estimated to yield some £1.4 million annually and will be used by the local authorities to fund the employment of the staff necessary to implement the Bill's provisions. As regulations to be made under this Bill will, in the future, set out the standards to be met in abattoirs and knackeries, section 67 excludes the provisions of the food hygiene regulations from applying to such premises. The food hygiene regulations will, however, continue to apply to the transport and retail sides of the meat trade.
These are the salient features of the Bill which I commend to the House and in so doing I would like to thank my predecessor in office and all the bodies who have contributed to its preparation.
The House will recognise, too, that while this legislation deals essentially with meat being prepared for the home market, it is in line with that we have been endeavouring to convey at every level — that in a country where this essential element of our primary product, be it meat, dairy, or whatever, is of such vital importance to our economy in terms of home consumption and export consumption, it is essential that in every respect nothing but the highest standards will be accepted. We want this country to be known in every respect as a country where the food we produce will meet the highest standards anywhere in the world. I also want to put it on record that, while a lot of this legislation deals with regulations and control, which will obviously be implemented by my Department and by those responsible, the best guarantee we will have that we have reached those standards is an awareness by the people themselves. Anything less than the best is unacceptable. I am very confident that this House, in which I am privileged to introduce this Bill, and the people generally will take the same view. We have reached the point now where success will be guaranteed not just by a regulation from Government or the Civil Service but by the people themselves demanding nothing but the best. I am please to introduce this Bill in the House.
