Noel Coonan (Fine Gael)

I support the call for a debate on the issues raised by the incident referred to by Senator Brian Hayes. Such incidents are not confined to the capital but, unfortunately, take place in rural Ireland. We can never underestimate the profound impact such an incident has on the victim and his or her family. The issue deserves both debate and serious action.

During the week, Food and Drink Ireland issued a report on the food and drink sector in Ireland. This sector is extremely important to the economy and employment as it generates in excess of €18 billion and employs 250,000 people directly or indirectly, including the farming community. The Departments of Agriculture and Food, Enterprise, Trade and Employment, and Health and Children are all concerned with promoting the industry. It would be very worthwhile debating an allegation in the report that the three Departments are pursuing different agendas. The report also states the food industry in this country is suffering due to costly overregulation, such as the farm to fork policy pursued by the EU, and an unbalanced policy by the World Trade Organisation which favours large corporate producers in Third World countries like Brazil, China and India. This is a serious issue for our country and is worth debating.