Paddy Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Leader of the House, Senator Buttimer, and Conchobhar and wish them well in their marriage. I wish also to be associated with the expressions of sympathy on the death of former Senator Maurice Hayes with whom I served in the House for ten years. He made some very valuable contributions in the House. I know the Leader will organise expressions of sympathy in the House at a later date. I also express my condolences to the family of the late Peter Sutherland, who was a great Irishman and statesman and who sadly passed away at a very young age also.

I support the call by Senator O’Reilly for a debate on agriculture. I ask the Leader to ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to come to the House in the very near future to debate agriculture. As Senator O’Reilly said, we face a fodder crisis. We never had such severe and harsh weather with a lot of rain as we have had over the past number of months. We had a very poor harvest in some areas last September which has culminated in a fodder shortage. Bringing fodder to the west and north is very costly. Senator O’Reilly has asked the Minister to provide compensation for the transport of the fodder and I agree . I hope we have a debate here in the very near future on this very serious issue. As Senator O’Reilly said, it is a human issue and an animal welfare issue.

I support Senator Horkan in relation to waste plastic. Europe will have to look at the packaging of products. There is far too much packaging used for many products. While China will not take our plastic, a great many of the products which come to Europe are generated there. They are culprits in this regard also. I support Senator Horkan's call for a debate on this issue. We could look at incineration and see how the two incinerators in the country are working, whether there are problems and if they are viable. We should look at what we can do on packaging. The vast majority of packaging should be recyclable or biodegradable. Those are issues which could be dealt with not only nationally, but also in Europe. I support the call for a debate.