Susan O'Keeffe (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I too wish to be associated with the sorrow expressed on the passing of Mr. Brian Farrell. He was a journalist who cared about journalism. He was a journalist who cared about politics. He wanted people to understand the political system. He wanted people to be informed. He did not chase car crash headlines. He was not interested in personality politics, the sort of journalism that unfortunately we see very often today. He will be sorely missed and his style of journalism and the way in which he approached his work is something that we will all miss, whether we are politicians or citizens.

I express my gratitude, 100 years after the start of the First World War, for the sacrifice made which may, as Senator Norris described, have been a foolish mistake, but for those who died all they could have done was give their lives, and they did so.

I ask the Leader, yet again, to ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to come to the House. I know he is coming here to discuss fisheries, but I refer to the beef industry. As Senator Norris said, there should be solidarity with farmers who are standing outside in the cold all night seeking prices they ought to have to been paid. It is an absolute disgrace to see the stand-off between the industry and farmers. It is not as if they have not tried to negotiate; they have. They have tried to sort it out and have been driven to stand outside with timber fires drinking tea in the middle of the night to try to get the industry to pay them the money they should have received.

This all goes back to the horsemeat scandal and whatever price the industry has had to pay as a result of its errors. Irish farmers did not introduce horsemeat into the business; the industry did. Farmers are now paying the price for that, which is an absolute disgrace. I have asked the Minister to come before the House to discuss the disbanding of the special investigations unit, and I am still asking for that. What we saw over the weekend was a disgrace.