Mary Henry (Independent)

I welcome Ms Ahern to the House and I thank her for her address.

I want to deal with the stem cell issue first as it is very serious. Like Senator Browne, the reason I am so in favour of the Government's position, as expressed by the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, is because I look with dismay at what is happening in the United States of America where large profitable biotechnology firms are solely based on the development of embryonic stem cell lines. I do not know if Ms Ahern heard me asking Ms Scallon about her views on drugs which are produced using embryonic stem cells to test for toxicity, particularly developmental toxicity. I am sure Ms Ahern knows all about that. I also asked Ms Scallon about her views on pharmaceutical companies with plants here, which use such research methods in the United States.