Brian Cowen
Ceist:18 Mr. Cowen asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the functions, staff and resources, if any, which will be ceded by his Department to the new food authority. [23534/96]
Other Questions. - Food Safety Board of Ireland.
The decision of the Government to establish the Food Safety Board of Ireland was announced by my colleague, the Minister for Health, last October. Pending the enactment of the necessary primary legislation to give effect to that decision, an interim board has been set up under the aegis of the Minister for Health.
The board's primary function will be to monitor and assess the effectiveness of the controls and procedures in place to ensure compliance by the food industry with best practice in food safety and hygiene. In this respect, it will have an independent auditing and supervisory role in relation to the food control and inspection functions of all Departments and agencies and will have the authority to make decisions binding on these bodies as regards any aspect of those functions. It will have final overall responsibility for ensuring that the control and inspection functions are established and carried out in accordance with best practice.
It will not, however, assume any of the primary or day to day functions of these bodies and, consequently, the question of transferring staff and/or resources from my Department to it does fully with the board in the exercise of its functions.
How many meetings of the interim board have taken place?
I want to make it clear that the activities of the board do not directly relate to my office. The board is independent. While I do not have the answer to the question, I know it held its inaugural meeting last Wednesday because I was at a function where I met people who had come from it. I would not get the minutes of its meetings. The primary legislation will relate to the Minister for Health, who attended the inaugural meeting, not to me.
In view of the Minister's blissful ignorance about this important interim board which was set up to deal with a consumer crisis, is he suggesting he no longer has any role in this matter? He is saying this is the problem of the Minister for Health and that he does not want to know about it.
It would be more accurate to say I will not be meddling in the affairs of the board than to say I am blissfully ignorant. The board is autonomous, independent and absolutely all powerful in terms of its binding recommendations, Protocols and the operation of the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry. It is intended that my Department, like a health board or a local authority, will be the servants of the instructions of this independent food safety board. The Minister will be subject to its recommendations and it is appropriate that I am at arm's length from its deliberations. That would give it independence to do what it sees fit because its loyalty and duty is to the consumer.
Will that body have responsibility for the traceability of food? In view of the fact that this matter has been lying in his office for four months, what action does the Minister propose to take on it?
Very few matters lie in my office for four months. The traceability system, with the computerised animal location file, the CMMS file, is under proactive consideration by me to secure resources in the Estimates and the proper technology to ensure it works. The Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry will have total responsibility for its establishment. The Food Safety Authority will be responsible not for running the traceability scheme but ensuring it is satisfactory and that it meets the objectives. The role of this expert group is to ensure, in a totally independent, autonomous way, that the Department is doing its job properly. It will have no loyalty to the staff carrying out the functions of traceability, veterinary inspection and so on.
Will the Minister give the date on which submissions were made to him by An Bord Bia and the date on which his Department replied to them?
As far back as June I actively sought from An Bord Bia, Teagasc and other interested parties an input to a national traceability and quality assurance scheme. An Bord Bia was appointed to a working group to develop this matter and consider its own national quality assurance scheme, which may be separate from a safety assurance scheme. There is ongoing contact and submissions are made almost on a weekly basis. The Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry will have responsibility for the establishment of the traceability scheme.
My question asked what functions, staff and resources will be transferred to the new food authority. The only conclusion I can draw from what the Minister said is that there is no expertise in food quality in the Department. Is that the case?
There is a clear distinction between the job of those who carry out the day to day functions of food subsidies, EHOs, VIs, Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry inspectors and so on, and that of the Food Safety Authority which will decide whether those people are doing a good job or should operate under different Protocols and instructions. The Authority will have a free hand to lay down the law under which it operates. It may carry out random checks to see whether the work of the Department is up to scratch, and it would be a very serious indictment of the Department if it did not meet the required standards. There is primary legislation involved here and the Deputy will have an opportunity to table amendments to the Minister for Health as appropriate. It would be very serious if the independent Food Safety Authority was critical of the Department. The Department will have to be on its toes, like everyone else, to ensure it meets the standards laid down by the Authority.