Feargal Quinn (Independent)

Senator Harris suggested we should be more positive. One particular piece of news in today's newspapers is very positive and full of opportunity, which is that Dublin has been selected to host the European city of science meeting in 2012. This will be a great opportunity. I know something about the chief scientific adviser to the Government who chaired a committee that put this together. Dublin beat a number of other cities, including Vienna. I want the Government to support this wholeheartedly, as it has done up to now. However, under the constraints of what could happen in the years ahead, it might just weaken that support. This is a great opportunity for Ireland, not just in the tourists that will come for the event in 2012, but also in allowing us to build our economy in the future on science and technology. We have never had an opportunity like this for the world to focus attention on this case. The professionalism of the team that won this event for Ireland needs to be supported.

Another opportunity is represented by the report that 900 deaths a year in Ireland could be avoided if we ate less salt, which is a dramatic figure about which the Government can do something. We can publicise that if people want to live longer and avoid high blood pressure and heart attacks, they should reduce their salt intake. The figure given was that a reduction of half a teaspoon of salt in each person's daily diet would save 900 lives. One company in the food business decided to reduce the amount of salt in the bread it sold in Britain and it worked very well. It did the same in the Czech Republic and because the Czech people had not been educated by their government at the time, the people poured salt onto the bread and ended up using more salt rather than less. Through education we can save lives. It is the job of the Government and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland to draw people's attention to this. It is an opportunity to save lives.