Joe O'Toole (Independent)

I will defend the farmers as well. From 1990 to 2000, I listened to people unfairly trying to convince Irish farmers that in some way we could avoid the world beet price. We all knew it was staring us in the face. Every year the rainforests of the Amazon are cleared to the extent of the acreage of Ireland. Two factories producing sugar in the Amazon will wipe out not just the Irish but the European sugar beet industry. That is a fact. Whatever way we are to deal with this issue, it is not a problem to be laid at the door of the Government, the Minister or anybody else. If we want to go back in time, we should never have done a deal on beet in 1973. That was done to protect northern French and Belgian farmers and we got in on the tail end of it.

The points made today by Senator Bradford are correct. I agree that people are affected and are being displaced. The matter needs to be debated. We should be looking at the alternatives. We should examine how we can look after the farmers involved in production and the workers in the factories. That should be the tone of the debate. If we waste another two hours having a go at the Minister, the Department or the previous Minister, the Government side will defend the Minister and this side will have a go at her. We will go back 20 years and get nowhere. It would be a total waste.

Let us talk about the alternatives. Last week I outlined here the need to help farmers get into biofuels and other alternatives. There is a need for them to produce crops that can be used for energy generation, to use the land properly and to get a fair income from it. I will support that approach and stand with them on every one of those issues. Let us keep the debate focused on that.

Connected to this issue and the displacement of people in their jobs through no fault of their own is the Irish Ferries dispute. It was discussed at some length yesterday in the Dáil. This is something which people on all sides would want to be on record. I ask that time be made available, today if possible and I look forward to the Leader's response. The issues have been well rehearsed. I have raised the matter here three or four times previously and I would like an opportunity to explore what are the possibilities and where this can go. This is about trust and confidence as well as people's jobs. This reflects badly on everybody and will undermine the relationship between all parties on the labour spectrum, business and workers, Government and the social partners. It has the capacity to undermine much of what we worked for during the past 20 years and from that point of view, we must debate this issue.

Last week, I raised the fact we did not get a response from the Vatican to the Ferns Report. Following that, I wrote to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and requested him to formally post a copy of the Ferns Report to the Papal Nuncio in Ireland and the Pope in Rome to seek their response. Not only did we not get a response from them on the most serious issue ever of its type, the most appalling development occurred during the past week whereby the church is trying to throw the blame on the fact that some priests may be homosexual. A fortnight ago I stated that until the church begins to recognise, understand and accept homosexual and married priests, it will never solve its problems. We must make our position clear. We must revisit the church's response to the Ferns Report as soon as possible.