(Limerick East): The veterinary services of the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry and, where appropriate, the veterinary services operated by local authorities under the Abattoirs Act, 1988, are responsible for animal health controls as well as the pre and post mortem inspection of animals in slaughter houses. These inspections are concerned with both general animal health and welfare as well as meat inspection and the testing of meat for the presence of antibiotics, growth promoters and other prohibited substances.
My Department, through the health boards, controls the sale of meat at retail level under the food hygiene regulations. In addition, the health boards enforce a wide range of regulations on my behalf in respect of food additives and contaminants.
My Department is, of course, concerned about the reports of antibiotic residues in meat. This concern is twofold. Such residues can induce reactions in some people but, more particularly, they can have the effect of increasing resistance to medicines administered to human for human illnesses.
The Deputy will be aware of the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry's statement of 1 November 1996 in which it was stated that the pigmeat producers and processors were once again told that the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry is committed to the total elimination of antibiotic residues in order to ensure both full compliance with legal requirements and to allay the concerns of consumers. The Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry will rigorously apply the tighter controls in this area which were introduced in recent months and will prosecute those who fail to observe the relevant requirements, of which both producers and processors are by now well aware.
While my Department does not currently have any direct function in relation to the control of antibiotic residues, this is exactly the type of issue which will come within the remit of the new Food Safety Board of Ireland which the Government has decided to establish and which will operate under my aegis. That board's primary function will be to provide and ensure the necessary health protection for consumers and will have all the necessary powers for that task. It will act independently of all existing food control agencies and will supervise in a very tangible way the operation of these agencies to ensure they are discharging their functions in a proper manner. It will have access to all the necessary data, it will evaluate the effectiveness of control systems, it will be able to enforce compliance with its audit findings and will have the power to prosecute for failures to observe the highest standards available. In particular the board will be obliged to publish its findings in a timely manner.
I am satisfied that the new board will, therefore, meet the needs for consumer protection in this area and that it will play an important role in stamping out unacceptable practices in regard to antibiotics and other substances.
Turning to the recent tragic reports of the inquest in Belfast, I think it is important to point out at the outset that the cause of death was, it seems, the new variant of CJD. I am aware that there is now persuasive, but not yet conclusive, evidence of a link between this new variant of CJD and the consumption of infected beef.
I emphasise that the incidence of CJD in the Republic of Ireland is very low. Twenty cases have been reported since 1980 to date, none of which was of the new variant CJD. Since the beginning of the concerns about the public health implications of BSE we in Ireland have adopted strict and prudent animal control measures to protect the public from exposure to the agent of BSE. The Food Safety Advisory Board has considered the question of BSE on a number of occasions.
In September of this year I set up an advisory group on CJD chaired by Professor William Hall, Director of the Virus Reference Laboratory and Professor of Microbiology in University College, Dublin. This advisory group consists of experts in all disciplines relevant to this subject such as neurology, neuropathology, public health, veterinary medicine and microbiology. The brief of this advisory group includes advising me on research strategies in relation to CJD and on international developments generally in this area.