Minutes of the meeting of the National Committee on Folic Acid Food Fortification
Thursday 13 October 2005

Minutes of the meeting of the National Committee on Folic Acid Food Fortification at the Food Safety Authority of Ireland held on Thursday 13 October 2005 at 10:00 , in the FSAI offices, Abbey Court , Lower Abbey Street , Dublin .

PRESENT:
Ms Maureen Lynott (Chair) [ML]
Dr Louise Sullivan [LS]
Prof. Albert Flynn [AF]
Dr Catherine Hayes [CH]
Dr Mary Flynn [MF]
Dr John Devlin [JD]
Prof. Joe McMenamin [JMc]
Dr Kevin O'Donnell [KO'D]
Mr Alan Reilly [AR]
Prof. John Scott [JS]
Dr Fenton Howell [FH]
Dr Sean Daly [SD]
Dr Davida de la Harpe [DdlH]
Dr Harry Comber [HC]

IN ATTENDANCE:
Ms Eileen Lippert [EL]

APOLOGIES:
Dr Ailis ni Riain [AnR]
Mr Nick Killian [NK]
Mr Eamon Corcoran [EC]
Dr Cliodhna Foley Nolan [CFN]
Ms Margot Brennan [MB]
Dr Orla Healy [OH]
Mr Dermott Jewell [DJ]

1 Agree Minutes of the Last Meeting

Agreed: The minutes of the meeting of 15 September 2005 were adopted subject to one amendment.

2. Matters Arising

Noted: There were no matters arising that were not on the agenda.

3. Declarations of Interest / Conflict of Interest

Noted: There were no declarations of interest.

4. Public Consultation Results

Noted: A research report from MORI was circulated prior to the meeting and this report and some of the issues contained therein were discussed. When addressing the public consultation in the Report to the Minister, it was advised to describe those who responded to the survey as interested parties. The report should give full details of the methodology used and highlight that the results of the survey are not a scientific representation of the views of the Irish population.

Agreed: There will be a systematic response to the concerns raised in the survey, which will be addressed by the Committee.

5 Discuss the various Chapters of the Draft Report

Noted: The Committee started off by discussing and commenting on the Conclusions and Recommendations chapter and went through each recommendation in detail.

Agreed: Following much discussions, the conclusions and recommendations were agreed as amended.

Agreed: The FSAI will redraft all of the chapters to reflect all the changes in the new agreed recommendations. The Chair agreed that the report will be edited by a professional editor. Members help was sought and it was agreed that sending comments on how chapters should be changed would not be helpful. Instead members agreed they should return the draft chapters that have been sent out along with those that will be sent to them shortly, with necessary changes tracked. It was commented that reviewing the document will be easier when all the chapters are completed and the whole report is available.

6 Date of Next Meeting

Noted: The scheduled meeting for 17 November was cancelled. The next meeting will take place on 15 December at 11:00 until 13:00 in the FSAI.