Vol. 433 No. 1
43 Mr. Harte asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the steps, if any, he is taking to ensure that the EC Commission's proposed restrictions on the deboning of beef in the premises in which the same cattle are slaughtered do not come into effect; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
58 Mr. Hogan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the steps, if any, he is taking to ensure that the EC Commission's proposed restrictions on the deboning of beef in the premises in which the same cattle are slaughtered do not come into effect; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
94 Mr. Flanagan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the steps, if any, he is taking to ensure that the EC Commission's proposed restrictions on the deboning of beef in the premises in which the same cattle are slaughtered do not come into effect; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 43, 58 and 94 together.
Proposals by the EC Commission to revise the rules for beef intervention are currently under discussion in the framework of the beef management committee in Brussels. While, I, of course, share the Commission's objective of improving intervention controls, I do not accept that this objective will be achieved by their proposal to prohibit the deboning of intervention beef at the plant of slaughter. That proposal will also impose additional costs on the beef industry. For these reasons, Ireland is opposing this proposal at the beef management committee. I have also raised the issue with the Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development.
