I call on all sides involved in the beef dispute to come to the table. There is a beef forum meeting tomorrow and it is to be hoped progress will be made. Farmers have been outside the gates of factories for 48 hours, and were outside for 24 hours two weeks ago. They do not want to be there, rather they want to be at home looking after their livestock and producing the quality beef which does so well in Ireland. Farmers are a vital link in the beef chain and it is vital, given the Food Harvest 2020 targets, that we keep them in business. They had responded to the situation, which is part of the problem. I raised this issue as far back as last April. Extra cattle came into the system and as soon as factories saw that they saw an opportunity to cut the prices paid to farmers. If the dispute is not sorted out at this juncture, we will have serious difficulties in the future. It is important that all sides come to the table and solve the problem once and for all.

I can see from where Senator Martin Conway got his great grasp of politics, namely, the master himself. Well done to the late Professor Brian Farrell on the production of his intelligent student in the House. I share the sympathy expressed to the family of the late Brian Farrell. I knew him very well. He married into the Dillon family from Ballaghaderreen. I, too, met him at the conference in Ennistymon. He was a brilliant writer, journalist and professor, and an icon of RTE.

We all want to share in the sympathy being expressed to his wife and family. We will probably be given an opportunity in the future to extend our respects to the late Joe Walsh, the former Deputy, Minister and, for a short period in 1981 and 1982, Senator. Joe was an extremely good Minister and he played an important role in preventing the spread of foot and mouth disease in this country. He was outstanding in the way he took on that task. He was authoritative and committed to his brief. I extend my deepest sympathy to his family.

It is ironic that farmers were out on strike during the period in which Joe Walsh died because he fought on the side of the farmers. He set up Bord Bia and established good pricing structures. I agree with Senator Michael Comiskey that a crisis has arisen for farming. Having been on a farm, I understand the amount of work involved in the production of quality beef. Farmers are doing an outstanding job but a price cartel is operating among the factories. They are responding to supply and demand but supply will not be there unless farmers are given a fair deal because many beef farmers will be out of business in the next 12 months. In terms of inputs, the costs of silage production and other aspects of operating a beef farm are enormous. The price of supplies is increasing but the price is coming down for cattle. It is becoming an impossible task and factories need to respond quickly or else the industry will be destroyed. It is a crisis and the IFA and everybody else were right to protest. I hope there will be a response at the forum tomorrow and that better prices will be offered from Friday. The Seanad should appeal to all concerned to reach agreement in this regard.

I express my sympathy to the family of Brian Farrell on his death, including in particular David, whom a number of us got to know very well during the Constitutional Convention. I was in college with David. In terms of famous stories, the story about the route to the Dáil has been mentioned. It is up there with famous UCD stories. Probably the most famous question ever asked by a UCD student was "Is this a question?", and the answer was "Is this an answer?". Possibly the biggest irony is that the person who apparently gave the answer to Brian Farrell's questions about routes to the Dáil was the son of a prominent Deputy. Perhaps that says more about Irish politics than the question.

I did not name him.

He was a wonderful man and a wonderful lecturer - I claim him for UCD. I spent many hours in the bar in UCD being inspired by people such as Brian Farrell, Maurice Manning and Tom Garvin.

Tom Garvin was wonderful, too.