Sir, - I am quite prepared to address reasonable criticism of the EU and its policies, but it is quite unacceptable to see Commission officials - for I presume that is whom he is referring to - described by Kevin Myers in An Irishman's Diary of December 18th as "a parasitical caste of busybodies." As to the substance of his remarks, if Kevin researched his material he would know that decisions on food standards established by the European Union are not taken by these "bastards" but rather - by the Council of Ministers, which is made up of one minister from every member state of the EU. These standards replace the different national standards of the 15 individual individual member states and are designed to ensure the free flow of goods within the EU.
The decisions are taken only after an extensive round of consultations and consideration by technical experts drawn from the member states. When the measures are presented to the Council, each minister is entitled to consult widely in his or her own state in advance of being asked take a position on the proposed measures. Myrtle Allen and her associates would have had ample opportunity to have their say in this process.
As to the closure of premises which do not come up to scratch, I have no doubt that, in the event of people dying as a result of an outbreak of food poisoning in such premises, Kevin Myers would be among the first to call for the heads of the Brussels bureaucrats who had failed to eliminate such premises from the food chain.
As regards the feeding of meat and bone meal to ruminants again I must stress that the Commission cannot act on its own. Its decision in the veterinary field must be supported by the member states' experts in the veterinary committees, or by the Council of Ministers. On several occasions these bodies did not support precautionary measures advocated by the Commission, including a proposal in 1989 for a Community ban on the feeding of meat and bone meal to ruminants a proposal in 1994 for a ban on the feeding of meat and bone meal to pigs; and a proposal in 1996 for the exclusion of offals of cows, sheep, and goats from the human and animal chain.
If Kevin would like to debate these issues in public, the Commission would be prepared to field a suitable opponent. - Yours, etc.,
Deputy director,
European Union House,
18 Dawson Street,
Dublin 2.