I raise last night's "RTÉ Investigates" programme. There is a group of people who are vilified, sidelined, silenced and at times ridiculed, namely, those advocating for animal welfare. What the programme showed is the resilience that this group has in pursuing better standards for the animals in our care. I thank Fran McNulty and "RTÉ Investigates" but it is also important to mention Caroline Rowley and all those across the animal welfare organisations, as well as my party's animal welfare group, for pursuing this matter and bringing to light the huge problems we have in the dairy industry.

It strains credulity to hear Members say they were shocked by the programme. I have raised the issue of live exports and the treatment of animals on ships numerous times in the Seanad.

Indeed, animal welfare groups have been raising it. It is time for the country not just to be shocked but to take action on this. We have an obligation to the animals in our care. There is an issue around the lack of another industry for these bull calves. I take that point on board but this is a booming industry with rising milk prices and there are in some cases animals that are not taken care of as a result of this industry. It is human beings who are benefiting and again it is the animal kingdom and nature that are cast aside. I wanted to put that on the record. We have been told numerous times about the problems in live exports. It took a previous "RTÉ Investigates" to point out the problems in the greyhound industry and here we are again. There is a lack of action on both of those issues.

I am calling for a full investigation into the Irish Prison Service, particularly in the area of bullying and harassment. Some weeks back, I mentioned the case of Sean O'Brien, who was involved in an IRA prison escape in Portlaoise. That man has spent 20 years of his life trying to get information on what happened on that day. He is severely traumatised and the Prison Service is totally unwilling to help him. It is saying that because the Freedom of Information Act did not exist at the time, he will not be getting information. It is outrageous.

A whistleblower working in the Prison Service has come to me now. He tells me of drugs being brought into the prisons to facilitate some of the notorious gangs that are in prison at the moment. He has been shifted from one prison to another because he reported what he saw. He arrived in one of the prisons in Dublin and found horrendous food hygiene. He reported that and he is now being subjected to the most horrendous bullying. They are telling him to go home sick and not to come back. I want an investigation into this. I am contacting the Garda today on the drugs issue. I will write to the Health and Safety Authority and the governor of Mountjoy Prison and ask that if anything happens to this man, somebody will be held responsible for it. It is horrendous that somebody is suffering serious health issues as a result of bullying in the workplace. An investigation right through the Prison Service needs to happen urgently.