Susan O'Keeffe (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I add my voice of congratulation on another note to the three young girls, Emer Hickey, Ciara Judge and Sophie Healy-Thow from Kinsale Community School. I am sure others have already done so but I have not yet had the opportunity. I do so in support of those teachers and parents who help young children, and particularly young girls, in the science and technology area. It is an outstanding achievement on their part to win the European Union contest for young scientists. We may lose heart sometimes about bad or wrong elements in the education system, but when we speak of further investment this shows that there are young people willing to try something. I imagine these girls would not have had a significant amount of resources or special laboratories but they have achieved what others may have said was not possible. We congratulate them, salute their courage and wish them and their school well for the future.

On the related area of science, I thank Met Éireann for new research that suggests Irish summers may become warmer, although winters may be wetter. I ask the Deputy Leader for a debate on that research, which relates to climate change, and specifically regarding the bad weather. We all know what happened this year, with farmers in particular being affected, leading to difficulties with fodder. The young people in the Gallery who have just joined us may be responsible for scientific research in future and know more about it but if we are now able to say that we believe winters will be wetter, we should have additional planning and resources in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, as well as the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. We must not find ourselves unable to feed cattle every spring when we rely on the food industry in particular for future economic growth.