Susan O'Keeffe (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I cannot follow that. The concerns about the fodder crisis were well expressed and I share them. I am certain the Minister is working extremely hard to try to resolve them, albeit, as other Senators have pointed out, he is not Superman. It is probably best that he carries on trying to work out the dilemmas and that he continues to respond to the crisis. I am not sure that bringing him in here at this point in the middle of the crisis is the best place for him to be. However, I would like a reassurance that he will be in touch with his French counterpart today and, as others have said, if that requires the Taoiseach to ring the French Prime Minister, then so be it. We had a very good discussion on the fodder crisis with the Minister one afternoon last week. It is clear that in the week that has passed nothing has improved and, if anything, it has disimproved because of the weather. I am sure it is uppermost in his mind and he has made clear from the emergency crisis line that no farmers should find themselves in a predicament and that they should ring the crisis line, and I would urge that they do that.

I would like to note the efforts in regard to Bus Éireann that have been made in the past few days. I spoke to a number of the workers in Sligo on Monday and they are very concerned not only about themselves but about the future of the company. I noted this morning that progress has been made and agreement has been reached to put proposals to the workers. I hope that will result in a resolution and that the workers will continue, as they have done this week, to show they were willing to go back to work in the interests of customers, visitors, schoolchildren and so on. I note their continued co-operation.

I ask the Leader to arrange a debate on the stem cell breakthrough research. It is an extraordinary piece of research and it is a matter that could be debated in this House, even though I share Senator's Keane's confusion about which Minister might be the appropriate one, but it is certainly a matter on which we should take a lead.