Feargal Quinn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I, too, congratulate Senator Norris. Senator Ó Murchú has worded my point very well. The election of Pope Francis represents a new beginning. We have heard words today from everybody and there is a sense of hope. This has been brought about by the demeanour and sympathetic manner of the new Pope. He showed this when he was elected yesterday. It gives us a chance of a new beginning. Therefore, I support entirely what Senator Labhrás Ó Murchú said. This is our opportunity to reopen the embassy in the Vatican. It is exactly the time we should do so. We should show our response to what Pope Francis has done.

Comments were made last night about the age of Pope Francis and it was suggested that he might be a little too old. I discovered, however, that he was born 20 days after me, so any suggestion that he is a little too old is being rejected entirely by me and I hope by others as well. There is a lot of life left in that old dog yet and in this one too. In the context of discussions about age, I draw the attention of the House to figures published yesterday which indicate that the life expectancy for males in Ireland is shorter than in a number of other European countries. Life expectancy for males here is 77 but it is beyond 79 in at least seven other European countries, including Iceland, Italy, Sweden, Malta and Switzerland, among others. These figures were published by the World Health Organisation and represent a challenge for our Department of Health. When I came into this House first there was a huge number of road deaths every year but the country grabbed hold of that problem. Various Ministers rose to the challenge and as a nation we decided we would do something about it. That required a change of attitude and behaviour and the number of road deaths has reduced dramatically as a result. We must now set a challenge for ourselves vis-à-vislife expectancy in Ireland, particularly for males. We have a shorter life expectancy than a number of other countries and we can do something about that.