Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

Will the Leader reconsider not having an Order of Business on Fridays in this House? As Senator O'Toole raised this issue yesterday, I would ask the Leader to reconsider it. The precedent in the House has been that when there is business there would be an Order of Business and I would like to see us reverting to that.

It is clear from the debate on and the international reaction to what has happened in our food industry in recent days that enormous damage is being done internationally. I am sure many Senators will be aware that international newspapers such as Le Monde and Le Soir, and Sky News, have been leading with stories about the damage to our industry. It is clear that once the serious issues on traceability and inspection which I raised yesterday have been dealt with satisfactorily here and the package has been put in place, a major initiative will be needed internationally to restore confidence in Irish food. I would point out that Bord Bia, which would traditionally have been very involved in such a campaign, had its budget slashed by 8% in the budget. There must be clear and decisive leadership in terms of this campaign internationally if the damage done already is not to be compounded. Perhaps that is matter to which we can return at a later date in this House.

Today marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We have called for some time for a debate in the House on the broad range of equality issues. Yesterday there was one manifestation of those equality issues when we had a photograph taken in the House of all of the women Members and former Members who were available. That is the first time ever that close to 50% of those sitting in the Chamber were women and that is a goal for which we should strive. Equally, I commend The Irish Times on the booklet it produced, and gave away yesterday with the newspaper, to mark the anniversary.

I note in The Irish Times today that former Senator and former President, Mary Robinson, has an interesting article on climate change. She writes about its impact on rights and the poorest people, and calls for the issue to be put at the top of our agenda. We ought to be debating climate change in this House and I ask the Leader to facilitate such a debate.