Cross-Border Push On Pork As Stormont Tucks In Too

While Stormont was hosting a breakfast reception with Ministers Michael McGimpsey and Michelle Gildernew, to let the public know that pork is safe to eat, it has emerged that Northern Ireland Agriculture Minister Gildernew has been in close contact with her Southern counterpart, the Irish Republic's Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Brendan Smith.

They met in Co Monaghan on Friday to discuss the events of the past week in relation to contaminated animal feedstuff.

The Ministers had initially agreed that the problem had presented major challenges to the agriculture industry North and South and that there would be work to be done in restoring confidence in products from the island of Ireland in the international marketplace.

Michelle Gildernew said: "I have been in contact with Mr Smith throughout this process and our officials have been in on-going contact to deal with the problem.

"However I felt it was important for us to meet face to face and to discuss the way ahead. We are hopeful that the problem has been contained and that work can now concentrate on re-establishing confidence in our products."

Minister Smith said that he was pleased to have been in the position to reassure Minister Gildernew and consumers North and South of the safety and high-quality of Irish pork and bacon products.

The Ministers acknowledged that this was a preliminary review of recent events and agreed that when further information was available, a further review of the events of the past week would take place and they undertook to maintain close contact in relation to this and other issues of mutual interest.

Commenting, Sinn Féin spokesperson on Agriculture Pat Doherty MP has welcomed Friday's meeting.

"The meeting between the agricultural Ministers will on one hand enable them to review what was happened in the course of the past week and more importantly set out in very clear terms exactly how the industry will move forward from here," he commented.

Today's event was a further development and saw bacon and sausages were on the menu at Stormont as representatives of the pork processing industry and the health and agriculture committees were treated to a breakfast consisting of locally produced pork sausages and black pudding.

Speaking at the breakfast, Health Minister Michael McGimpsey said: "Today's breakfast should send out a clear message to the public that Northern Ireland pork is a healthy and nutritious product which is safe to eat and should be back on the menu this Christmas," he said.

(BMcC)