Vol. 477 No. 1
32 Mr. Foley asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the consultancy studies, if any, which were carried out under the Strategic Management Initiative on the meat inspection service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6807/97]
70 Dr. Woods asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the progress, if any, which has been made regarding his commitment to introduce full-cost recovery at individual meat plants of the meat hygiene inspection service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8416/97]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 32 and 70 together.
A consultancy study of my Department's meat inspection service was carried out to establish how best this service can be provided, to quantify the cost of providing the service and to determine the proportion of overall cost which relates to the provision of hygiene supervision.
The study, which was commissioned prior to the introduction of the SMI, concluded that the meat industry should bear a higher proportion of the cost of the service than is currently the case. It also identified a number of initiatives which could be undertaken by my Department and by the industry itself which would lead to a lower cost service.
I am arranging to proceed with the implementation of the recommendations of the report, including a proposal to recover the full cost of the meat inspection service. I intend that this will be operated on the basis of an individual contract for each plant, later this year.
