David Norris (Independent)

I strongly support Senator Brian Hayes in terms of what he said about Sellafield, particularly in light of the fact that in recent days radioactively contaminated salmon was found in supermarkets in Britain. This contamination came about as a result of a fish farming process where the fish were apparently fed with pellets made from fishmeal from fish caught in the Irish Sea. Any level of contamination is a cause for concern and we are entitled to be protected against it, particularly when one considers the method by which these fish became contaminated. The way these unnatural products were fed to these unfortunate creatures led to the problems, which bear a horrible resemblance to what happened in the case of BSE, that have occurred. I support Senator Brian Hayes's point that it should be an all-party motion. We should be united on this; there should not be any reason for scoring partisan points.

It also might be appropriate if we had a debate on the fishing industry in general and the fact that it is extremely difficult to get some of our best products. We simply have not woken up to the fact that among the best things we can do in the catering industry is prepare our own naturally occurring products well. It is difficult. One does not often get decent crab in a restaurant nowadays. One is presented with soft-shell crabs, New England crabcakes, etc. Why do we not return to using our own raw materials, such as prawns, which are superb.