Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 5 May 2021
694. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of engagements or meetings his investigations unit has had with the Health Products Regulatory Authority in each of the years 2017 to 2020 and to date in 2021; and if the Authority has issued guidance in respect of substances that his Department has seized and stored at its facility at the Backweston laboratory complex. [23129/21]
View answerAlthough interaction between the Department and the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) is primarily between HPRA and the Line Division of the Department with specific responsibility for the regulation of Veterinary Medicines, Investigations Division does engage with and meet HPRA staff both at formal meetings and through one to one engagements in the course of investigations and prosecution cases.
Records of the numbers of such engagements are not available but staff from both Investigations Division of the Department and the HPRA regularly attend meetings of the MIDAS (Management of Intelligence and Drugs Action in Sport) Group (a national multi-agency group focussed on sharing information and collaborating to reduce inappropriate use of drugs in sport) and contribute to the Food Fraud Task Force (an Irish multi-agency group sharing information and collaborating on investigations relating to food fraud).
Individual investigators from the Investigations Division communicate with HPRA in respect to relevant substances which the Department has seized as the need arises for the purpose of investigations and prosecutions.
