Pressure on the Government to sack or transfer the Minister of State for Food, Mr Ned O'Keeffe, will intensify tomorrow when the Dail debates measures to combat mad cow disease.
Allegations of day-to-day involvement in the family businessess and failure to fully disclose his business interests under the Ethics in Public Office Act are at the heart of Mr O'Keeffe's latest difficulties.
A spokesman yesterday said the Minister would deal fully with these matters in a debate on a Fine Gael private members' motion in the Dail tomorrow and not before then.
Fine Gael has complained in its Dail motion of the "compromised position of the Government in international export markets" because of revelations concerning Mr O'Keeffe in his responsibilities for food quality and safety.
The Labour Party has already asked the Ethics in Public Offices Commission to rule on Mr O'Keeffe's failure to identify an alleged conflict of interests when he spoke and voted in the Dail against a proposal to ban the feeding of meat and bone meal to all animals ail two weeks ago. Mr O'Keeffe has an interest in Ballylough Milling Ltd, which compounds feedstuffs including meat and bone meal for use in the extensive, family-owned piggery in east Cork.
A report in yesterday's Sun- day Independent drew attention to an Ernst & Young audit on the milling company in 1999, which revealed a "fundamental uncertainty" because money was owed by a "business owned by a connected person".
Manufactured feedstuffs had also been sold to a Mr Edmund O'Keeffe who was "connected to the directors of the company". A spokesman for Mr O'Keeffe yesterday would not confirm that he was the "connected person" involved with another business, or that he had bought feed.
The Fine Gael spokesman on agriculture, Mr Alan Dukes, asked if Mr O'Keeffe had bought feedstuffs when he was not supposed to have any day-to-day involvement with the company. He also asked why the Minister had not revealed his connection with Ballylough Milling. Last week the Minister for Education, Dr Woods, argued that Mr O'Keeffe had met his obligations because he had disclosed his involvement with the mill in the Dail register of members' interests. Opposition parties rejected that defence, saying ministers had special obligations under the Act.
They also alleged an undisclosed conflict of interest because of his ministerial responsibilities in licensing such mills and in overseeing animal health matters.
In its Dail motion, Fine Gael calls for the testing of all beef animals entering the food chain for BSE, not just those over 30 months, as suggested by the EU. It also calls for a direct income support scheme for affected beef producers and for the construction of an incinerator.