Paul McGrath
Ceist:110 Mr. McGrath asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the proposals, if any, he has to enable local authorities to implement the Abattoirs Act; and when the promised subvention will be paid to those authorities. [15413/97]
Written Answers. - Abbatoirs Act.
Under the Abattoirs Act, 1988, statutory responsibility for the supervision of day to day operations at domestic abattoirs, including ante and post mortem examination of animals and certification of meat, rests with the relevant local authority. In December 1996, as a result of the unsatisfactory situation which had existed for some time in this regard, Government approval was secured for payment by my Department of financial assistance to local authorities in order to assist them in urgently rectifying this situation.
My Department has been engaged in ensuring that each local authority is carrying out all the relevant functions and where it is satisfied that this is the case, payment has already been made to the local authority concerned. Payment will be made to the remaining local authorities as soon as they have confirmed that they meet the relevant criteria.