Don Lydon (Fianna Fail)

I welcome Ms Ahern to the Seanad. It is always a pleasure to welcome a psychologist to the House. I had the very great honour of serving on a local authority with her late father for a number of years. He was a remarkable man and one of the finest people I ever met.

We will not get into the stem cell research debate. The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment had a very difficult job this week, which she carried out with a great amount of sincerity in trying to regulate this business. We should not be regulating it at all. We should be regulating stem cell research but not embryonic research as that should be banned, but that is neither here not there.

On the Green agenda, I am sure that within the Green Party Ms Ahern is opposed to genetically modified foods. What success has Ms Ahern had in Europe in doing something about that? It interests me greatly and I would like to hear her views on it before she leaves us.