Feargal Quinn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

This morning, Senator Barrett referred to the price of generic drugs as against branded drugs. I have before me an ESRI report which is rather startling. I realise we have taken action on this and moved to have legislation in place. Therefore, I am somewhat unsure where we should go from here, but it seems that if there is a 90% gap between generic and branded goods in other countries but we have only approximately a 10% or 20% gap, then we must do more.

Ireland has led the way in so many areas in science. One of which that deserves attention is traceability of meat products that enabled us to identify that there was horsemeat where it should not have been. In a recent development in Australia they have been able to use similar technology to allow customers in McDonalds to trace the origin of their meat right back to the herd of cattle. They can do this on a smartphone app. It is a reminder of how we have been able to lead the way but have not made the best use of our technology. We need to continue to invest in science and such developments, and not leave things on the long finger.

Britain will today announce a big involvement in shale fracking. I believe that investment will go a long way towards solving its energy problems in the future. I know it is a big discussion point as to whether we should do it. However, we seem to put things on the long finger so often and not make decisions. I believe we should have a debate at some stage in the future on science and the need not just to invest in science but to ensure we carry the results of such investment through to a final conclusion.