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MINISTER SIMON COVENEY has said that the majority of the problems relating to the horsemeat scandal were as a result of bad management rather than illegal activity.
It emerged earlier this week that just one prosecution is being sought over the scandal but in an interview with TheJournal.ie, Coveney said that “anyone who has broken the law in relation to the horsemeat scandal, we will pursue”.
(Video: © TheJournal.ie)
Coveney said that the one company being pursued was “deliberately putting false labels on product” and that as far as he is concerned “that is not acceptable”.
“We are looking at whether we can put a case together but you know putting a legal case together on something as complex as this does take some time and we only launched the report in March so we’re working with the gardaí on that and we’ll see where it goes.”
While the Minister asserted that those found to be in breach of the law will be pursued, he said that “most of the problem was as a result of bad management, not illegal management”.
“The companies that were involved in the scandal, in my view, were involved because of poor management and poor record keeping and maybe a lack of testing but whether they actually knowingly broke the law, I don’t think we’ve managed to prove that,” he said.
Coveney also said that much of the scandal was caused by problems with imported meat and that information has now been passed onto the authorities in other countries so they can pursue prosecutions.
(Video: © TheJournal.ie)
Commenting on his department’s handling of the scandal, Coveney said that he thought it gave “the kind of priority that story needed”.
Anyone who reads our horsemeat report, which was published back in March, would get a very clear picture as to how this happened, why it happened and our response to make sure it doesn’t happen again, as as to whether we did a good job, in the public eye, I’ll leave it to other people to judge me on that.
“Within 48 hours, that scandal became a European scandal and actually, as it turned out, through this process, now that its over in some ways the whole horsemeat scandal has enhanced the reputation of the Irish food industry because we’re the ones that actually exposed the problem in the first place,” he said.
“Certainly I would say that in the aftermath of it there is more demand for Irish beef than there ever has been now and beef prices reflect that,” he added.
- Camera by Sinead O’Carroll.
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Ah just like the banks…just bad management…No need then to see the well to do back slapping wealthy tycoons prosecuted. Horse meat allowed for greater profitability and hence why it happened. Lets see if the British sweep it under the table or do they actually look after the people they serve.
As one person involved is the brother of the Irish agricultural minister, it will be very interesting to see what happens.
Oh yes, basically he is saying it’s good old “systems failure”. Again.
Every single thing that’s terminally f****ed up or that goes wrong in this country, it’s “systems failure”. Nobody ever does anything wrong and most of all nobody is ever held to account.
The British Govt. and most of Europe’s had no interest in exposing this. If our Dept. of Agriculture had not, then it would have continued for years.
What a load of nonsense!! Horse meat from any and all sources mixed with or passed off as beef sold to consumers as a safe product to eat. The minister says ” that is not acceptable ” and was merely “bad management”, NO it wasn’t minister,it was a CRIMINAL act no more no less.
Apart from the immediate producers the next ones on the criminal list are your own Department’s Inspectors and Vets! Where were they when all this was going on? Where was your Special Investigations Unit? Either through reprehensible dereliction of duty or complicity in the crime they were responsible for the unsafe contamination of the food chain.
Worse still you expect the public to believe that the ‘safeguards’ put in place by your Department will stop the criminality.
It was deliberate deception and fraud to obtain money. That is a Crime. Are all Politicians stupid or just the citizens?
Well we’re stupid for voting the plebs in, but they’re in control of this crap, so they’re thick, if not thicker as well.
Not illegal? Pull the other one. The whole thing stinks of a massive cover-up. A huge fraud was perpetrated and it looks as if no one will be brought to book. The gangsters in the Irish meat industry must be having a right laugh. First the Beef Tribunal where the only person who came close to getting a prison sentence was the journalist who broke the story and now this. I suspect that there is a fear of pursuing some of the people involved – “ex” IRA men in the border counties – in case it might disturb the peace process.
Surely bad management needs to be punished? Paying cheaply for meat but not testing it is no less reckless than giving out 100% mortgages. And isn’t there a quango that should be keeping these businesses from falling foul of standards?
Pretty sure the punishment for being bad at your job is being fired, not arrested. Although that’d be quite the motivational tool eh?
Brush under the carpet….ssshhhhhh.we don’t punish wrong doing on this level.
So any bad taste in your mouths folks is bad.
But not illegal.
They can justify anything,
I’m more interested in the horse sh1t scandal currently going on in Irish politics. Every day we seem to be fed another pile with so much as a question.
The only reason the Department of Agriculture is involved in this fiasco is to ensure their beef industry buddies continue making huge profits from fraudulent activity and don’t receive any conviction.
If there was an actual criminal investigation (e.g. Garda fraud squad) we might see some results.
I have a vague recollection of Simon Coveney’s brother being involved with one of the meat companies…surely his own involvement in the inquiry then should be questioned as he will surely be motivated by his brothers interests.
We know the Government is bereft of any ability to conduct inquiries when you consider the lack of results and convictions over the numerous years and millions, possibly billions currently spent on them.
Excuse the government from any inquiry duties. You never know…we might just get real results allowing them to concentrate on getting us out of this recession
Coveney’s brother Patrick is the CEO of Greencore one of whose products was found to contain horsemeat. See: http://www.thejournal.ie/greencore-product-asda-horse-dna-796431-Feb2013/
This is what you get when you have decades of politicians passing laws to benefit their friends and contributors. Nothing is illegal anymore. Banking, food scandals, construction safety, workplace safety, product liability. No, sorry, no laws were broken.
Ah, I suppose it’s better than putting in place a government that has “links” to a “violent past”, eh?
Fraud is illegal.
What a load of horse manure Simon.
Horse Manure labelled as Bullshit.
Negligence is no excuse. They should be inspecting the sources from which the meat comes.
So if I were to pick a product (anything), resell it as a different thing, for a higher price… I can’t be done for fraud, bad management maybe, but not fraud. So are any fraud cases going to reference this in future? So can the Garlic as Apples guy not retrospectively plead it was bad management and not fraud now?
Unreal, it’s just unbelievable.
There you have it folks, deliberate fraud or deception is not illegal, straight from the horses mouth! It was probably those bloody immigrants or the unemployed who were responsible anyway, he’ll tell us next.
What Coveney is saying is that in otherwords none of his friends in the food industry need to go to jail.
How about making money by deception
Fraud
Wrongful labelling
Withholding information
To name but a few.
Convey would like this to be swept under the carpet so his buddies and his brothers would be let off.
You can tell he went to the Jesuits.
Who else could split hairs like that? “Bad management” versus “illegal management”.
Someone charged with social welfare fraud should try that defence. Chances of success? Nil, I would say!
Sounds like a cop-out, Irish law appears to be too complicated when the corporate worlds errors are exposed,
government needs to deal with these type of issues promptly, and wrong doing must have consequences ,
have your say