Lack of will to impose reforms, ex-minister says

The Department of Agriculture lacked the appetite to impose badly needed reforms on the industry, the former minister of State for agriculture, Mr Ned O'Keeffe, has claimed.

Mr O'Keeffe expressed disappointment he had been unable to make the changes "that I would have liked to do" during his three years in office.

The Cork East TD told the Fianna Fail parliamentary party he believed senior Department officials and the Minister, Mr Walsh, had blocked his ambition for change. Ireland was just one of two countries to meet the highest meat standards, "yet we have failed to capitalise on this. We are quite careless in our approach to things," colleagues later quoted him as saying.

Quality assurance schemes run by the Department were "of no value. They are nothing more than sales gimmicks".

Scottish sheep were slaughtered by the Kepak plant in Athleague, Co Roscommon, and then sold to France as Irish produce. "This has made us the laughing stock of Europe," Mr O'Keeffe said.

Meat plants should be allowed open for a limited number of hours only during the day. This would prevent a repetition of the pre-dawn delivery which took place at Athleague, he said. Vets and inspectors employed by the Department should not be based at just one plant. Instead, they should be moved frequently to stop them becoming "too friendly" with factory owners and farmers, he suggested.

He criticised the importation by the Kerry Group and its chief executive, Mr Denis Brosnan of large amounts of foreign food ingredients: "We need to export 90 per cent of what we produce. There is no advantage in this at all for us," he said.

Meanwhile, the Taoiseach, Mr Bertie Ahern, was unable to confirm reports in The Irish Times yesterday that 8,000 English sheep were smuggled into the Republic in January. The Department of Agriculture had so far traced all sheep imports back to February 1st, he told the Fine Gael leader, Mr Michael Noonan.