Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I support Senator Denis O'Donovan's comments. Most people greatly value the work of the farming community and the quality of its output. It is scandalous that farmers might be victimised by concerted activity among processors. It is an issue we must examine. It has been emerging for some time and there is no sense that the bull is being grabbed by the horns, if Members will pardon the expression, on the matter.

I thank Senators Fidelma Healy Eames and Jim Walsh for referring again to the case of Dr. Meriam Yahia Ibrahim which I mentioned yesterday. It is an appropriate subject for an all-party motion and I propose to draft and circulate one. I would be grateful for the support of the House for it. It is also appropriate that the Government give an account of its stewardship in this very disturbing case. For the information of colleagues, a 27 year old woman, a doctor, has been sentenced to 100 lashes and eventually to hang for apostasy. She has supposedly changed her faith from the Muslim faith to the Christian faith. In fact, she was brought up in her mother's faith as an Orthodox Christian, her father reportedly having been absent during her childhood. She married a Christian man from South Sudan, which is a crime in Sudan's version of Islamic law. It is for this crime that Dr. Ibrahim has been sentenced to death. It is a perverted understanding-----