To announce a £25 million investment in three new biotechnology centres - which will be working on GM foods - might seem like folly on the part of the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh. The move came in a week which revealed again the extent of Britain's fear of "Franken-foods" and which saw Prime Minister Blair admitting for the first time that they could pose a threat to health and the environment.
It was also the week in which an OECD conference in Edinburgh heard that US government scientists had advised against the assumption that GM crops are as safe as traditional ones.
All this, predictably, sent UK tabloids and some campaigning broadsheets into paroxysms of outrage for the umpteenth time.
But the decision to alter radically the direction of the State's agricultural research and development body, Teagasc, was not taken lightly. The organisation has for some time been evaluating future trends in Irish and global agriculture and the food industry, under the guidance of its director, Dr Liam Downey. Ironically, Teagasc has concluded that its new direction should embrace both biotechnology and organic farming, the latter being the favoured alternative of most anti-GM food campaigners.
The three new centres of excellence in agri-food biotechnology will be built at the Teagasc Crops Research Centre, Oak Park, Carlow; the Dairy Products Research Centre and Moorepark, Fermoy, Co Cork; and the Animal Reproduction Research Centre, Athenry, Co Galway. Twenty-five prominent researchers are to be recruited in biotechnology and other specialised disciplines.
Teagasc's enhanced biotechnological capacity will mean new technologies become an integral part of the Irish food industry, thereby increasing its competitive potential in a global market. It will also enable Teagasc researchers to participate effectively in the £560 million Foresight programme announced in the National Development Plan.
The Minister emphasised that the agri-food industry would in future operate in an even more competitive environment, with reduced protection. "The entire food chain will continue to face more stringent demands in relation to food safety and quality, changing consumer lifestyles and tastes, and requirements to protect the environment and animal welfare," he said.
There are risks with GM foods - probably environmental rather than health-related - which need very careful case-by-case evaluation and thorough monitoring after new crops are planted and become mature. Equally, history will show that the first developers of the technology did not take sufficient account of what Mr Blair has called "legitimate public concern" - some multinationals promised much without adequate reassurance.
But these caveats should not be considered sufficient reason for the banishment of GM foods, if adequate safeguards can be put in place.