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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 16 May 1995

Vol. 452 No. 8

Written Answers. - Conflict of Evidence.

Desmond J. O'Malley

Ceist:

191 Mr. O'Malley asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the way in which he reconciles the evidence given by an assistant principal officer in his Department in a recent court case now completed that an average yield of 75 to 76 per cent was obtained from deboning intervention carcases with the evidence given by the Secretary of his Department to the Committee of Public Accounts of Dáil Éireann recently that a yield of 68 to 69 per cent was all that could be obtained from such carcases; and if he will explain the discrepancy in these two sets of evidence by senior officials in his office. [8943/95]

The evidence given by an assistant principal officer in my Department in a recent court case referred to yields as recorded in commercial documentation seized in the meat plant concerned. It was clear from other evidence given that the beef in question was not deboned in accordance with the prescribed intervention specification. Technical advice and the results of controlled trials indicate that, when that specification is adhered to a yield of 68 to 69 per cent is what is achievable from the normal mix of cattle offered for intervention in Ireland.

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