Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

Senator Terry said that in four years there have been 50 deaths from drugs in Dublin 15, which is a stark statistic. The national drugs strategy is another matter which should be debated.

Senator Browne referred to the MRSA superbug and ESB costs. Senator John Paul Phelan asked for a debate with the Minister for Education and Science. It would be interesting to have this debate early in the autumn. He referred also to Palestine. One of the benefits of fact-finding trips abroad is the collegiality that develops between people of different parties and the Senator exhibited that when he agreed with Senator Leyden's comments. I was in Washington with Senator Mooney recently. A leading article in The Washington Post stated that one of the benefits of such trips was that members of opposing parties had the time to talk to one another and to share ideas.