Brendan Ryan (Labour)

I join my colleague, Senator O'Toole, in his expression of good wishes to Senator Quinn. As regards Senator Quinn's poll-topping, I would not mind a little redistribution.

While Senator O'Toole is correct that restraint is necessary, it is difficult. It must be clearly stated by all of those who accept there is only one way to pursue politics that no one is doing us a favour by maintaining a ceasefire. We did them a favour by offering them a way out and the door is still open to them to find a way out of the cul-de-sac in which they find themselves. Beyond that, I do not propose to take up Senators' time discussing the nonsensical rhetoric of the IRA statement to which we have become accustomed.

I will relate a lovely positive little story from Belfast about St. Mary's Training College camogie team, which is training at night in Linfield Football Club's training ground. This is the other side and we should celebrate little changes such as this which would have been inconceivable 20 years ago. We should give them more prominence as the way the world is going and let others catch up.

On an unrelated matter about which I read in a newspaper this morning, what is the position regarding ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine, which regulates all research carried out on embryos, etc? The article cited the immortal statement by the Department of Health and Children that the convention is under continual review. Ireland is one of the few countries in Europe with no legislation on this area. Senator Henry raises this issue regularly. We are leaving ourselves wide open to unscrupulous researchers using Ireland as a base. To pretend that because some of the issues addressed in the convention are a little difficult to grapple with, it is somehow better to have no regulation, is to leave us wide open to all sorts of abuses. Will the Leader ask a Minister why the convention has not been ratified?