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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwSACUD_sdo
YouTube: Hugh O’Connell
Updated 11.59pm
THE SEANAD IS debating a special motion to annul an EU directive on organ transplants – signed into Irish law a year ago – which a Fianna Fáil senator claims is flawed.
The European Union (Quality and Safety of Human Organs Intended for Transplantation) Regulations 2012 is being debated in a special session of the upper house today after Fianna Fáil senator Mark Daly secured a debate on the law.
Opening the debate, the leader of Fianna Fáil in the Seanad, Darragh O’Brien, said that though there was no prospect of the legislation being annulled a “proper focus [has been] brought to bare on this whole area of organ transplantation” because of the debate.
The Minister of State for Primary Care Alex White is representing the government with Health Minister James Reilly on holiday. Daly and Fianna Fáil faced criticism from the Fine Gael leader in the Seanad, Maurice Cummins, who said the recall is a “political stunt”.
He said that in signing the EU directive Ireland has “signed up to a clear legal framework” on organ transplants “the aim of which is to ensure the safety and quality of organs as well as the protection of organ donors and recipients”.
Cummins said he hoped senators will speak about the directive and the regulations it lays out and not confuse this debate with that about an opt-in or opt-out system for organ donations.
Independent senator Jillian van Turnhout said she supported a motion to recall the house last year but said she was not supporting it this year as the past 12 months had afforded ample opportunity to debate Ireland’s organ transplant system including in two Oireachtas debates.
“Part of me wonders, it’s almost as if Senator Daly is trying to invoke the memory of Bobby Ewing [a character in 'Dallas'] stepping out of the shower and forgetting that the past year has happened,” she told senators (see video above).
Later, her fellow independent Dr John Crown recalled the ‘Who Shot Jr?’ plotline in ‘Dallas’ and asked: “Where is JR? Why is the Minister himself (James Reilly) not here to answer this charge?”
Fianna Fáil senator Terry Leyden said that the Attorney General’s advice – that any attempt to recall the Dáíl an annul the legislation would be illegal – was itself “absolutely flawed”. He said that Mark Daly “has done the State a great service”.
Fine Gael Senator Colm Burke said that in 2000 there were 150 people waiting for kidney transplants, by 2010 it was over 650 and acknowledged that there are issues that need to be addressed.
He said that there are over 1,828 people on dialysis in Ireland, costing €118 million every year but said that the legislation being debated in the Seanad is not related to this.
Sinn Féin senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh said there was an onus on legislators to deal with the issue in its entirety and that any discussion about organ transplants should address the larger issue of healthcare provision in Ireland.
Fine Gael senator Jim Daly said that he had met former GAA star and living donor Joe Brolly recently who, he claimed, agreed with him that Daly was “talking through his derriere”. He said if the legislation is annulled there will be no “objective quality and safety standards” for transplants.
Independent senator Rónán Mullen said that time afford to the concerns of private members is “paltry” and therefore the recall of the upper house was welcome. Earlier his fellow independent, Katherine Zappone, said that there was no rationale for having two authorities dealing with organ transplants.
Fianna Fáil senator Mary White said that the recall of the Seanad had been a victory for the house, for Daly, and those awaiting transplants.
First published 10.51am
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They should really teach kids about giant hogweed in schools. It is truly horrific stuff.
@Chop Chop: Before some smartarse says it, I’m not saying there’s hogweed IN the schools. It was poor phrasing on my part. It’s late.
@Chop Chop: your handle means I’ll take u very seriously on anything u have to say on this topic
@Danny O’Mahony: U da man danny
@Danny O’Mahony: Never mind the handle, you should see the couple of scars on my leg.
@Danny O’Mahony: Never mind the handle, you should see the couple of scars on my leg.
@Chop Chop: You got lucky! I know people that required surgery to remove scaring!
If the council ask for the publics help there would be 1000s of volunteers to help with this problem. National parks & wildlife could recruit secondary school teenagers as well. Maybe even the work shy could be deployed, they can earn their money by helping the environment.
@Dean Carroll: Teenagers handling poison and dangerous equipment, yup that’s a good solution. I’d even be wary of letting adults volunteers near that stuff.
@Jason Walsh: what about a wood saw and gloves? No chemicals. Cut down Laurel, Rhododendron. Manually weed etc.
Climate change promotions opportunity missed by the journal Climate cultists.
@087 bed Has nothing to do with Climate Change you nonce. knotweed was introduced by some clown Lord, 100s of years ago in the UK to run along train-lines, the morons assumed it would be grand, the root structure is highly invasive. Our street in London had some and rendered the nearby houses unsellable/unliveable… Apparently in its native country’s there’s a particular grub that eats the root and controls the spread, that bug doesn’t survive here. Was very surprised to see it here when we returned, as it wasn’t around when I was a kid. You wont get a mortgage if these weeds are anywhere near.
@087 bed: You and the other that liked your post have no idea what the article is about. Read it, google it and learn the real problems that are happening all over the country and the damage it does.
@Thesaltyurchin: It was brought in by fancy gardeners and escaped same as the Hogweed. It escaped from the Botanical Gardens!
@Gary Kearney: Apologies, it was a “Sir” rather than a lord. “The invasive plant Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica) was introduced to the UK by Sir Robert Fortune. He brought it to Britain in 1850s from Japan, where it was originally native”
I see in Canada some areas let loose a herd of goats and sometimes herds of sheep who devour these type of weeds that are harmful, should Ireland look at this as a solution?
@Ned: I’ve seen goats grazing council land in the Netherlands. This country has so many sheep too and they’re just standing around doing nothing
@Ned: But then someone can’t get rich off govt contracts!!!….. Maybe set the goats up with bank accounts and then put them to work at the expense of the taxpayer. The money is there to be thrown away as per usual!
@Ned: It’s the roots are the problem, and they multiply in size when the plants are cut.
@Darth O’Leary: Are they not grazing like normal sheep or do they stand and stare ?
@Lulu: let’s tap into the power of sheep is all I’m saying. Might make for less lean chop but we could cut down on the glyphosate
As you drive around take note of the trees, hedges and historical buildings being swallowed up by ivy. Everything that’s growing being choked with the stuff.
Good journalism Big problem here round my patch
Argument can me made its natural evolution
All plants and all successful species increase their range over time
Homo Sapiens being the prime example
Heartbreaking to see native species disappearing all the same
Ash being a tragic example
But that’s mother nature
99% of all lifeforms that have ever existed are extinct
As Frank Sinatra famously put it
That’s life
@Danny O’Mahony: Watch out, it will destroy any structure nearby, soon enough the banks will pulling back from investing in mortgages where this could happen.
Japanese knot weed is beloved by bee keepers for its late flowers. All the plants in Ireland are female I’m and it cannot seed here. It actually spreads quite slowly. It’s related to rhubarb and the young shoots can be used the same way in tarts and desserts (and as a veg with your dinner if you’re Dutch). Articles like this never mention that. Livestock, especially goats, love it. I had it on a property a few years ago in an area I was planting trees on, and after a few years it was shaded out.
Fuscia is a major invasive plant, but no one mentions it, cos it’s pretty.
@Seosamh mac Cárthaigh: The fact that if disturbed small sections of it, as little as 0.7g, can re-grow into a new plant is the problem. It doesn’t need to go to seed to spread.
Cork is heavily affected. The biggest culprit for spreading knotweed has been the flail verge trimmers which spread the mown plant matter extensively along roadside for miles. This fact was only detected in recent times but the damage had been done. “Do not mow” signs are erected by councils. As happens every year on the Cork-Kinsale road the contractors ignore the signs and mow away. No checking by City Council. How can you win with such people in charge?
Not surprised with Louth Co Co position on the league table. Totally ineffective. Wipe their hands totally on eradication of knotweed…… Speaking from experience!!!
We humans are the biggest invasive species of all time! I’m just putting it out there!
A supermarket chain was selling rhododendron plants last summer.
@Pork Hunt: You can buy horticultural varieties at any garden centre. The article is talking about a specific species, that is a problem. The garden stuff is fine.
Add to this the malicious spreading of Japanese Knotweed onto proposed development sites to dissuade development of the land. It’s not a conspiracy theory either.
Incursio bona?
What about the non-native trees escaping from forestry plantations around ireland as well???
Japanese Lilac is another invasive species that does massive damage.
The butterfly tree as I knew it as a child. They love it. It chews up building however! It is extremly difficult to kill as grows very fast as well.
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