One of Mr Bertie Ahern's achievements as leader of the Opposition was the manner in which he commissioned a wide ranging series of updated policy documents in order to better prepare the party for government. One of the best of these was the Fianna Fail food policy paper published last March which in making a strong case for a radical overhaul of food and meat inspection - placed a new priority on the need to safeguard consumer interests.
Earlier this week, Mr Ahern, signalled that the party is determined to push ahead with these reforms in government. Speaking at the Agriculture 97 event in Co Cavan, he indicated that a radical overhaul of the Department of Agriculture was now required. He also repeated the commitment first made in the policy paper to establish an independent Food Quality Authority, with statutory powers, to guarantee the safety and quality of food, so removing this responsibility from the Department.
The new board will take over all the functions related to the regulation of the food industry, animal and plant health, approval of drugs and chemicals for use in food production, implementation of safety assurance schemes at farm and factory level and related areas.
Mr Ahern says that this is no more than a "restructuring and refocus of the Department" but it is clearly much more than this. The Fianna Fail plans signal the beginning of the end for the symbiotic relationship that has traditionally existed between the Department and the farm lobby in which consumers have been consigned to the role of bit players. It also marks a kind of political watershed; after many years as its most zealous defender, Fianna Fail appears, at last, ready to put some distance between itself and the Department of Agriculture.
In truth, the Department has never fully recovered from the report of the Beef Tribunal which exposed a high level of administrative failure. Mr Just ice Hamilton found that the department had failed to ensure that EU regulations and Irish law were adhered to by the beef industry. Invariably, these findings have undermined political support for the department, making some reform inevitable.
The decision to remove the supervision of food safety from the agriculture department, however, is in line with EU thinking. During the BSE crisis, the EU Commission President, Mr Jacques Santer, signalled his intention of removing food safety issues from the portfolio of the EU's agriculture directorate. The outgoing government had also moved to reassure consumers with the establishment last year of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, although the Department was still allowed to retain responsibility for the monitoring and, regulation, of the food industry.
There is no little irony in the fact that it is Fianna Fail which now seems more intent on reducing the role and influence of the Department. But there is no alternative if consumer confidence in food buffeted by the BSE crisis, the e-coli scare and reports of the adulteration of meat by angel dust and antibiotics - is to be restored.