Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I accept what the Senator said. There is concern in certain areas. However, I feel it is being stoked in some quarters. I have to take very seriously what the fears have given rise to. The first is the independent assessment by the EPA to which I referred. I accept what Senator MacSharry said, that there are people who are very fearful about the implications of this. The process that must be gone through is very rigorous. I repeat that I did not know about this issue until four or five months ago.

I am aware there is a conference in Warsaw in November, for example, which will be devoted to this issue. There is not a great deal of authoritative literature on it in Europe. The relevant parliamentary committee of the House of Commons has done a report on it and there is also the forthcoming conference I mentioned.