The Seanad saw some fiery scenes yesterday (Wednesday, May 27) over claims by an Irish MEP that Brazilian beef could end up in school lunch meals.

The Seanad was addressed by the five Irish MEPs from the Ireland Midlands-North-West constituency of the European Parliament, namely Luke 'Ming' Flanagan, Barry Cowen, Nina Carberry, Maria Walsh, and Ciaran Mullooly.

It was Mullooly's contribution that generated the most intense reaction and criticism from senators, with several asking him to withdraw his remarks over school meals.

The most vocal critic of Mullooly's remarks was Senator Paraic Brady, a Fine Gael senator elected from the Seanad's Agricultural Panel.

However, the Independent Ireland MEP stuck to his guns, standing by his comments.

Mullooly told the Seanad that concerns on public health and food safety in relation to Brazilian beef have been shown to be legitimate, following confirmation from the European Commission earlier this month that Brazil will no longer be authorised to export a range of animal products to the EU from September 3.

That followed a vote by member states on an updated list of third countries authorised to export food-producing animals and animal products to the EU.

Mullooly said: "The commission has taken Brazilian meat off the safe list. They were told to get their act together by September 3. We want to see them get their act together now.

"Why should we sit by in a calm and relaxed basis while Brazilian beef comes in, especially in prepacked meals into our schools with a question mark over it?" he added.

Mullooly said he "absolutely" refutes "any suggestion" that his remarks constitute "scaremongering".

This remark, and others that followed in on the same topic, prompted a long period in the debate in which several members, particularly Senator Brady, interrupting Mullooly while he had the floor, despite pleas from Seanad Cathaoirleach Mark Daly to let the MEP continue.

These interjections were based on Mullooly's claim the Brazilian beef could end up in Irish school meals, with many senators alleging that that claim did not have any evidence, and that it could undermine the beef sector here that was supplying meat for school meals.

Mullooly told the Seanad that he had met with European Commissioner for Health Oliver Varhelyi, who, the MEP claimed, told him that the issue of meals "coming from the UK is a major problem".

Mullooly went on: "That's why I contacted the [Food Safety Authority of Ireland - FSAI] and I asked the [FSAI] to directly follow up on this.

"If the [FSAI] doesn’t do it, I'll go further. I'll ask parents in schools to investigate this matter with the school authorities themselves to get to the bottom of this, because that’s how strongly I feel about it," he added.

After that contribution from Mullooly, Senator Brady said: "I know firsthand that the meat that is going to school meals is actually coming from local producers, local farmers delivering into local abattoirs."

Senator Brady asked the the MEP to withdraw his remark in relation to school meals and Brazilian beef.

In a later contribution, Mullooly said that his focus was on meat imported into Ireland in pre-packed meals that may be of Brazilian origin.

He said: "At the moment Brazilian beef is not safe on the European list.

"The [commission] has said [it] requires safeguards to be improved and checked with regard to Brazilian beef by September 3 or it will be off altogether. The focus we have in the intervening period is the UK coming in here, meat from the UK coming in here, frozen and pre-packed," Mullooly added.

He claimed that this included prepacked food "coming in to schools and hospitals in certain cases".

Following that comment, the push-back from senators dialled up considerably, with Senator Brady saying: "That’s detrimental, what's going on here today... That’s detrimental to our beef sector. And our beef farmers are suffering at this minute in time."

Another senator, Joe O'Reilly from Fine Gael, said: "We need a clarification, there are parents sending children to school. This matter needs clarification."

Mullooly then went on to say: "If the meat coming into your school is Irish beef, there is no issue with regard to the health and safety of it.

"If the meat coming into the school is from the UK, I am asking questions, the food safety commissioner is asking questions. We need it clarified," the MEP said.

"I'm not prepared to wait until September 3 on this. I've told the [FSAI] very clearly. I couldn't make it any clearer," he added.

This prompted more angry responses from senators, with some stating Mullooly had no evidence for his claim; another pointing out that there are "hundreds of people working in the school lunches sector"; and another asking: "'I'm the father of two kids, and I want to know should I not do the school meals anymore?"

These objections to Mullooly's comments all occurred while the MEP had the floor in the Seanad discussion, with the cathaoirleach asking members to respect speakers' rights to answer questions in a manner "they see fit".