Feargal Quinn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Senator Mary White has raised the issue of Russian adoption again and I have also discussed the matter. Yesterday I discussed the problem with the Minister. Clearly, her heart is in the right place but, as Senator White has said, that is not enough. We must encourage the Minister to find a solution. I gather that the matter is in the hands of the Attorney General and that is where the matter is being held up. I know that the Minister understands the problem. Only four or five families are involved so it should not be an insurmountable issue. There is a difficulty with the Russian adoption on that basis. I hope that the Minister will solve the matter because time is short.

Two years ago we had a very good debate here on food waste which acted as a reminder to us all of the amount of food that is wasted. In the western world we produce about 300% more food than we need yet 1 billion people per day go hungry and suffer malnutrition in the rest of the world. The main cause is that people in the western world waste food. The figure for Ireland is quite startling with each family throwing out €700 worth of food per year, with some families throwing out food to the value of €1,000. The solution is in our hands. We must stop producing too much food and leaving it on our plates or in saucepans. There is another thing that we can do and it concerns expiry dates. Producers still print "best before" dates on their products.

"Best before" just does not make sense. It is not a question of "best before". I can remember looking at "best before" when I was in the business of potatoes. I spoke to the supplier and reminded him that he was supplying potatoes on a Thursday which had a "best before" date of Monday. He said, "Yes, they are new potatoes, they are the best. If you really want to taste them well, they are best if one cooks and eats them before Sunday." That does not mean there is anything wrong with them on Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday. I mention it because it is sinful to think that 1 billion people are going hungry in the world while we are throwing out so much food on that basis. A new organisation, FoodCloud, set up by two women, aims to get the waste food that in the past we fed to animals but since BSE and the foot and mouth scares we do not feed waste food to animals any more. As such a system is in place in different parts of the world, FoodCloud deserves attention. I ask the Leader for a debate on the issue in the near future. It is worth bringing the issue to the attention of the rest of the country and as it is in our own hands we can actually do something about it. We could refer to the debate we had about two years ago to see the basis of that. It is clear that 60% of the food that is binned is edible and yet we do not eat it, either because we are concerned about it or have produced too much or are lazy or are interested in the "best before" date rather than in our health.