David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Our guests will excuse me for watching the monitors on the wall. They may have noticed a little theatrical business between Deputy Durkan and me. We both wanted to view what is going on in the Dáil and Seanad because we are both due to make contributions in the respective Houses of which we are Members. There was no discourtesy intended.

I welcome the submission presented by our guests, which was invigorating. We need something positive in these very difficult days. It is certainly positive to see Ireland, via third level university programmes and so on, becoming involved in such an imaginative way. The degree of co-ordination is very impressive. I want to recognise that in the first instance. Professor Ryan referred to how important it was for the doctors to whom he referred to be recognised. Our guests should also take their bows because they deserve to be recognised for what they have done. Their work is very important.

Our guests covered a wide range of matters. I was particularly taken by Professor Ryan's wonderful and simple demonstration, which brought matters alive for all of us. I have been a member of the committee since it was founded 20 years ago and I have never seen anyone use props in the way Professor Ryan did. It was a splendid demonstration. I am sure that in the future it might be overdone but as a beginning, this was really terrific. There is another side to all of this, namely, the whole question of population. This is something of a hobbyhorse of mine. I am not for one second stating that the children involved should not be saved or that we should not invest massively in Africa, a continent to which Europe has done so much damage. However, I am of the view that it is very important to track population trends and universities can do that. No one is facing up to this matter. The UN presents a population report each year but this never mentions population.