Martin Kenny
Sligo-Leitrim · Sinn Féin · Ireland
“A debate here for a couple of hours is fine, but I remember being involved in some of the deep talks with people in the early days of the peace process. We sat in rooms and talked about reconciliation. I met Garret FitzGerald on many occasions at the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation.”
“Of course, we have the areas of natural constraint payments that most farmers on this side of the Border avail of. Unfortunately, those payments are no longer available in the North. Sinn Féin has recommended that the payments should be restored. Farmers need support. Brexit took their support away.”
“I welcome this debate. Such a debate has been needed for quite a long time. The reality is that for many people, the issue of the financial implications of Irish unity has been used as a put-down to try to smother or put a stop to argument and debate. This is a welcome way in which we can open that up.”
“I hope Government will reflect on that and recognise that we need to build a process. There is an energy for reunification among ordinary people the length and breadth of the country. This is about the physical constraints, but is also about identity. Many people who live on this island have a British identity.”
“As the Taoiseach is aware, for many years people with mental health issues have been attending emergency departments in our hospitals. Many of them get very poor outcomes. They experience long delays and end up on trolleys. Sometimes they are referred for short-term stays or to community services, which offer little or no service.”
“I appreciate all that and the farmers forum is a positive advancement on things, but we are back to the problem at the very core of this issue, which is that the chair of Bord Bia has been using imported beef from Brazil as part of his mix to sell product.”
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“The issue here is that he said on one hand the Government tried to build a minority to block the deal but at the same time was trying to work with people to improve the deal. You cannot do both.”
“At the nub of this issue is the reality that everybody knows, across Europe and the world, that the standards we are expected to meet in Europe when it comes to food production and the standards that are expected in Brazil and other Mercosur countries are not the same. We all know that. They are decades behind when it comes to food quality standards. The Minister of State knows that, I know that and everybody knows that and yet that is set aside. Public health is set aside for what? For the profit of a certain number of corporations. I know there are certain jobs and all of that but that comes to the nub of it. In the Minister of State's summing up earlier he got to what is the issue here.”
“Nobody believes anything has been done effectively to build an alliance to block this Mercosur trade agreement. It was the Irish Government’s responsibility to block it but it has failed miserably and basically betrayed the Irish people, Irish consumers and Irish farmers in respect of it. That is why we have this motion this evening and why we are holding the Government to account. We saw thousands of farmers protesting over this situation in Athlone last Saturday. People are angry across the entire country. It is not just farmers and people in rural areas but also others across the entire country, because they recognise what is happening. It was the very same thing with the fisheries. The Government failed to stand up for an indigenous industry and it let it go to the wall.”
“The next time there is a crisis in Europe, owing to disease or something else, we will see the floodgates opened and more and more inferior product coming in from Mercosur countries. For these reasons, we simply have to hold the Government to account. It did not play the game fairly. It pretended it was opposed to the deal when in reality, and as everyone knows, it worked hand in glove with its friends in Europe to get it through, basically for Micheál Martin to look good to Ursula von der Leyen. That is what is happening here, and everyone knows it. We are here this evening to discuss this motion. I have read the Government’s counter-motion. It is a self-congratulatory fairytale pretending the Government has done this, that and the other to protect Irish farmers and Irish livelihoods and that safeguards are in place.”
“How can the Government be so wishy-washy in here and tell us it is going to Europe to do the opposite of what it has been suggesting? Nobody believes it. That is reality and it is why we have this motion this evening and are calling on the Government to work with other countries and put pressure on all the MEPs across Europe to vote against the Mercosur trade agreement when it is before the European Parliament and build alliances everywhere we can to block it to protect the livelihoods of Irish farmers. The Government often mentions that only 99,000 tonnes of beef and 180,000 tonnes of chicken will come in. The reality is that this is the door slightly opened.”
“We also recognise that we have to have a commitment from the Government to publish the political, diplomatic and legal steps it has taken to block the Mercosur trade agreement. It should prove it has done what it has claimed to have done over recent months, because the reality is that nobody believes it has done anything. Now we are left with an agreement that is going to go through. Only at the last minute, when the Irish Government recognised a majority was going to vote in favour of it and that a blocking minority was not going to be in place, did it turn heel and decide it was going to vote against it. The day before, when the Taoiseach was in China, he more or less said to everyone that Ireland was going to vote for it.”
“At every turn, it has spoken about the positives of the agreement and has said what can come from it that could be good. It has said it could be good for other sectors and referred to there being safeguards in place. All of this is a simple and total betrayal of the Irish agriculture sector and European consumers. We recognise that the whole system in place for trade deals requires a vote in every parliament. What happened in this case, however, was that the proposed agreement was split into two parts so this would not happen. There is a challenge to go to the EU in respect of that. What we are doing this evening is calling out the Irish Government on its complicity in all this.”
“On the one hand, the Government has suggested it is opposed to the deal but, on the other, it does not do anything to block or stop it when it goes to Europe. It had ample opportunity over recent years to build an alliance with other countries across Europe to block it. It failed to do so. I will bring the Minister of State back to July 2019, when Sinn Féin had a motion to oppose the Mercosur trade agreement here in the Dáil. The then Government, a Fine Gael Government, tabled an amendment to it making a nonsense of it. That amendment was actually defeated and the Dáil gave a mandate to the then Government and subsequent ones to build alliances with other parties and countries across Europe to block the deal. They utterly failed to do so. We can see this from the utterances of the current Government in recent weeks.”
“I understand I am sharing with other Members. The reason we are here this evening, as the Minister is aware, is that the Mercosur trade agreement is detrimental to Irish agriculture, the people who live in rural Ireland and people who live across the entire island of Ireland and across the European Union because of the detrimental impact it will have on food safety. Food safety is primary in all of this. We see product coming in from Mercosur countries which is well below the standard we expect Irish or European farmers to meet. For that reason, we are totally opposed to the Mercosur trade agreement. Our motion this evening calls out the Government on its inaction in respect of this.”
“I move: That Dáil Éireann: condemns: — in the strongest possible terms, the catastrophic failure of the Irish Government to prevent the advancement of the European Union (EU)-Mercosur Trade Agreement, despite many years of warnings, repeated opportunities to build a blocking minority, and repeated appeals from Irish farming organisations, environmental experts and Sinn Féin; and — the role of the Taoiseach, who not only failed to challenge the Mercosur process, but who previously led the charge in misleading the public on the Lisbon Treaty, dismissing concerns at the time about weakened democratic processes, control over EU trade policy, reduced veto powers and diminishing national leverage; recognises that: — the Government's job was to stop the Mercosur Trade Agreement, and that they have failed utterly in this task; — the Irish Government failed to stand firm, refused to engage seriously with like-minded EU member states, and refused to use Ireland's leverage when it actually mattered; — at the eleventh hour they have cynically announced, in an act of political cowardice, they will vote against the Mercosur Trade Agreement, only after the deal is effectively locked in at EU level; — this failure reflects a broader pattern of passivity, complacency and unwillingness to challenge the European Commission on behalf of Irish farmers, Irish environmental obligations, and Ireland's strategic interests; and — the Irish Government was wrong to dismiss public concerns about the Lisbon Treaty, and that warnings at the time about weakened democratic controls over EU trade policy and reduced national veto power have proven correct in the context of Mercosur; notes with concern: — the catastrophic impact that importing 99,000 tonnes of beef and 180,000 tonnes of poultry into the EU would have on Irish and EU farmers, depressing prices and destabilising rural livelihoods; — that the Mercosur Trade Agreement runs entirely counter to EU and Irish climate legislation and would incentivise further deforestation, biodiversity loss and environmental destruction in Mercosur countries, particularly Brazil; and — that agricultural products imported under this agreement are frequently produced using toxic chemicals banned in the EU for decades, and the 2024 EU audit confirmed Brazil cannot reliably trace or guarantee hormone-free beef, yet the Mercosur Trade Agreement would allow exporters to self-certify compliance with EU standards; further recognises: — the grave and immediate threat posed to Irish agriculture, the environment, food safety standards and fundamental human rights by the proposed Mercosur Trade Agreement; — the enormous benefit that Irish agriculture provides to the Irish economy and its essential role in sustaining rural communities, family farms and local industries across the State; — that Irish farmers are custodians of the land, actively promoting biodiversity, protecting soil and water quality, and working to improve environmental sustainability; — that Irish agricultural produce is respected worldwide for its high quality, traceability and the rigorous standards to which it is produced; — the exceptionally high environmental, labour, animal welfare and food safety requirements placed on Irish and EU producers, that imported agri-food products must also meet if there is to be any fairness in international trade; — the need for sustainable, equitable and enforceable international trade agreements that support, rather than undermine, Irish and EU agricultural sectors and rural economies; — that tariff reductions can benefit consumers only when they are implemented in a fair, transparent and sustainable manner, and not when they create a race to the bottom on standards; — the absolute necessity that all imported products meet the same environmental, traceability and animal welfare standards as those required of producers in Ireland and across the EU; and — the various agreements, declarations and frameworks to which the Irish State is a signatory, including the Rome Declaration on World Food Security, the Paris Agreement, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework; and calls on the Government to: — immediately publish a full and detailed account of all legal, political and diplomatic actions it has taken, or intends to take, to oppose the ratification of the Mercosur Trade Agreement, and to outline definitive steps to ensure that Mercosur beef cannot enter the Irish food chain under any circumstances; — actively and publicly support the legal action taken by members of the European Parliament against the ratification of the Mercosur Trade Agreement; — mandate all their party Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to vote against the Mercosur Trade Agreement, and launch an urgent diplomatic initiative to build a blocking minority among like-minded EU member states; and — engage immediately and directly with other MEPs across the political spectrum to urge them to reject the agreement, and to work with civil society, farming organisations and environmental groups to build a broad coalition of opposition at EU level.”
“Surely, in our society they are worth more than that. If we are to provide this service for people, we have to pay the staff properly. Earlier, we talked about the money CEOs are getting. If we put that kind of investment into providing and paying adequately the people who-----”
“I raise the issue of home help hours across the country, but particularly in my constituency. We have serious problems with people who have been allocated home help hours on the recommendation of the district nurse. They are allocated three calls per day of half an hour or an hour each, seven days per week, but staff cannot be got. No one can get anyone to work in the service. Even those providing services through agencies cannot get staff but it is particularly the case for HSE. I understand that SIPTU is balloting for strike action because of the issue of terms and conditions and the huge pressures there are. One of issues is that they are paid €15 to €16 per hour. These are people who work with people with disabilities and people who are in wheelchairs and use hoists to get them in and out of bed.”
“I appeal to the Minister of State and the Government to step forward, make that strong stand and recognise the devastation this has for fishing communities and other communities in coastal areas. This is going to affect a serious number of jobs. Our processing industry cannot survive on three or four weeks' work a year. Those factories are simply going to close. This is an opportunity for Government to really show its grit and it must do that.”
“The concept of the European Union as a place where everyone would work together for the benefit of all seems to be set aside when it comes to these corporate interests. The way they are able to wield their power and the huge lobby they have in Brussels and other places is absolutely devastating for ordinary communities around the country. I also see it in the agriculture sector when it comes to Mercosur. It is the very same thing. The big corporates are driving it forward and to hell with everyone else. Governments have a responsibility to the people who elect them and who need reassurance that they can have a future too and that all cannot be stolen from their plate.”
“The leaders of other countries in the European Union stood up but our leaders did not. They did not come in strongly to support rural fishing communities around Ireland. It is simply going to be devastating if this is allowed to stand. The Minister of State has the support of everyone in the House. We need Government to make a strong stand for fishing communities. Unfortunately that has not happened to date. It has to change. I expect that we will see a change in the new year in how Government approaches this industry and that we will have the industry's back. Government will step forward and make a strong stand for the communities that have been devastated by the greed of a small number of international corporations, which seem to be more powerful than Ireland when it comes to this.”
“The problem is that the other sector that is in a catastrophic situation is that of the Irish fisherman and fisherwoman. They are going to suffer as a consequence of the greed of major corporations. That is one of the big problems that many people in Ireland and across Europe have with the European Union. It seems that the rich and powerful can make all the decisions and ordinary people are left to carry the can. It is time these people were left to carry their own bloody can. The ordinary people cannot take it any longer. The fishing communities around the coast cannot take it any longer. They will simply be devastated. I acknowledge that efforts were made and that the Minister of State feels he was betrayed in all of this. We do not understand why the leaders of the Government, the Taoiseach and Tánaiste, did not step up to the plate.”
“We are looking at approximately 57,000 tonnes less in the quota, which will mean that almost €100 million will be lost to the industry. The wider economic impact could reach up to €200 million in coastal communities around the entire seaboard, from Howth to Wexford, over to Castletownbere and up to Killybegs. This is a huge impact on rural communities that are struggling the most. That point cannot be lost. It is happening because large vessels are coming in from other counties around Europe. International corporations are driving this. They are sucking up the fish. They are doing it in the most unsustainable way imaginable. The science is telling us that we are now at a stage when much of the fishing stock is depleted to a dangerous degree. Nobody is arguing that point.”
“We are in a very difficult situation for coastal communities around the whole Irish seaboard. The Fisheries Council has caused absolute devastation. That is all it can be described as. It is going to be catastrophic for the fishing industry over the next year and more. The betrayal of the fishing community has gone on for decades. That is the reality. It is what we hear when we talk to fishers around the coastline, particularly inshore fishers and the people who are struggling to make a living. They are fishing sustainably, as was said earlier, but they are the ones who will bear the brunt of much of this. It is estimated that 2,500 coastal jobs in the fishing industry are at risk. The immediate danger is there and clear.”
“I do not see that happening because I see a groundswell of support from the vast majority of people around the country who recognise that this is something that has been there for a very long time. It is presented sometimes as being elitist, but that has not been the experience of most people. The majority of the Sinn Féin membership have voted on this and have made it very clear that they want to see this continued in a way that protects the environment, protects the animals and has at least a clear element of wildlife protection in respect of it. Hunting the fox is part of protecting other wildlife species. That is the piece that is missing for some people who do not understand fully. I thank the proposers of the Bill. We will not be supporting it. That is our position and we have a clear logic as to why that is our position.”
“Many foxes are killed not at hunts but actually through lamping where a light is shone on foxes when they are out in the field. They stand and look back and have no sporting chance. It is a way in which there has to be control of an animal which may be beautiful to see but has a very dangerous element to it particularly when it comes to ground-nesting birds but also farm animals such as poultry and sheep out on the mountains. Of course, we have a decision to make on this and Sinn Féin has a position. That position comes from our Ard-Fheis where this is debated, discussed and set out. If that position changes in the future, it will change in the future.”
“Many of the people involved in the gun clubs are also involved in other conservation work. They often raise pheasants and let them out along with hen harriers and other ground-nesting birds as well. Of course, the fox is one of the serious predators in respect of that. Many of our farmers are asked not to mow their meadows to allow ground-nesting birds, particularly rare birds, to be able to evolve and develop, and to get them back into the countryside again where they are very much an endangered species. The fox is one of the key predators in respect of that, as are the pine marten and the mink, one of which is a protected species and another an invasive one. Work has to be done to get rid of them. It is the same thing with the fox.”
“In my experience those involved in these activities do not go out with cruel intent. They go out mainly because of the satisfaction they get from being involved in the hunt. Often no horses are involved and they are on foot during the hunt. In many cases people engage in this because it is something they have done for generations in some cases. We accept that people have a genuine fear that if we start at one place and ban fox hunting, it will lead to something else and something else. That fear has been expressed by many people, particularly those involved in gun clubs around the country. Whether it is real or not, it is a fear they have and we have to recognise and acknowledge that as well. Many of us see the fox as a predator which is dangerous certainly for sheep and ground-nesting birds.”
“When it comes to debate, of course there are different views from different people but at the same time we recognise that across the length and breadth of Ireland there are thousands of gun clubs in practically every parish in the country. The people involved in those are hunting and also involved in conservation and everything to do with the countryside, a tradition which sometimes goes back for many generations. Fox hunting on horseback is a tiny part of that. For most of them, the elite and landed gentry are a thing of the past. The people who are involved in that now are not of that vein. Certainly, that is my experience in my part of the country. Of course, we also recognise that there has to be strict regulation. Cruelty should not happen and should be stamped out at every opportunity.”
“I thank the proposers of the Bill for bringing it before the House. It is important to debate all these issues, even the issues that separate and divide us. Every year at the Sinn Féin Ard-Fheis we have an opportunity to discuss various motions and set out our party policy. That is where our position on this comes from. For many years we have had motions before Ard-Fheiseanna where it has been discussed. What normally happens is that various cumainn around the country discuss the motions in advance and have their debates. We then debate it at the Ard-Fheis and have a vote on it, and that sets our position. That is why we have the position we have in respect of this.”
“All of these things are welcome but we keep hearing more and more announcements, and those of us who live in the north west - certainly, in counties Leitrim or Sligo - see very little delivery. That is what needs to change. While we will support what is coming before us this evening in the context of this Bill, we need to see the investment on the ground. We need to see people out doing the work and we need to see delivery, and that needs to happen with haste.”
“The reason developments cannot take place in many of the regions, including the north west, is that we do not have the water or wastewater infrastructure in place. In Carrick-on-Shannon, the development of water infrastructure is really serious and needs to be dealt with critically because it is at 110% capacity at the moment. That water treatment plant serves the whole of south Leitrim. If somebody comes in with planning permission in Mohill or Drumshanbo, they cannot get a letter from Uisce Éireann saying they will get a water connection because the water is not being delivered. All of these issues are having an impact. We also see the situation with the electricity grid being upgraded and the recent announcement about that.”
“I welcome Irish Rail's recent decision that it is not interested in seeing a greenway being developed on the stretch of rail line that goes from Sligo to Galway, but wants to see a railway put on it. That is the western rail corridor, which has probably been talked about for generations at this stage. We need to see that put in place with haste and invested in because it can benefit the north west with significant advantages for people travelling through that region. There are many other infrastructural deficits that we see, with housing being the major one that captures everyone in every part of the country because it is the father and mother of many of our problems, for example in the health service and the education system. People cannot get housing. They cannot get places to live in.”
“As we come to the end of another year, we all recognise the huge tragedy on our roads. Many of these road tragedies are a consequence of what were often called accident black spots but in actual fact are infrastructure deficits. These very dangerous multi-collision points on our roads need to be dealt with hastily. We need to see an upgrade of the Sligo-Dublin rail line. If I want to leave Dublin to go home on the train this evening, the last train leaves at 7.30 p.m. The last train to any region from the capital city should not be leaving at 7.30 in the evening. It should be leaving an awful lot later. We need better infrastructure and more frequency of services. We also need to see the introduction of a rail line in the western region.”
“We want to see projects that are not just spoken about but are actually invested in so that the money is put up-front and driven home. These projects include the N4 bypass in Carrick-on-Shannon in my own area, which is absolutely essential and needs to be done with haste. Anyone who travels from Sligo to Dublin most weekday evenings but certainly on a Friday evening knows that there could be a queue back almost as far as the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan's home town of Boyle. People are sometimes waiting for hours. This infrastructure badly needs to be put in place. The upgrade of the N17 is something we need to see delivered with haste as more and more people continue to lose their lives and the tragic accidents on that road continue to mount up every year.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill this evening. It is clear that it is an essential part of what we need to put in place for spending for the coming year and the function has to be put through here. We understand that. I take the opportunity to speak about some issues in in my constituency and in the north west in general, particularly capital projects. Capital projects are certainly something we need to see greater investment in because the parts of the country that have been left behind the longest and have the least development are the places that have the most potential. If we could get the investment, we could certainly turn this around. The Government seems to have been blind to the north west for decades. It seems to ignore the potential of Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal and focuses instead on other areas for investment.”
“I appeal to him at this stage, on behalf of my constituents in Sligo-Leitrim and people across the whole country who are affected by this, to step up to the plate here, recognise that what he is doing is flawed, accept the amendments and move this legislation forward in such a way that we can have confidence and the people who are in this terrible mess can have confidence in their future.”
“It may become very widespread in the future because defective building materials were not confined to county boundaries. They did not put up a fence and say, "You can't cross here". They have gone all over the place and there needs to be recognition of that as well. Even at this late stage, it is not too late to step up, accept the amendments and put a scheme in place that would provide for people. That would ensure we have something in place which will save time, give people confidence and actually save money in the long run. That is what the Minister needs to do.”
“We are in a real crisis here and one of the few things we would expect people to be able to stand by is that the Government that let them down in the past by allowing these lax regulations that got them into this mess in the first place would now step up to the plate and ensure that there is adequate redress and an adequate scheme, so that they can have the confidence to be able to look to the future. However, very many people cannot look to that future. This is why I implore the Minister to look again at these amendments and not just cut them down. He should not put us in the position where we will be coming back again and again representing our constituents in my area and all the other areas around the country affected by this problem. It affects many other parts of the country as well. It will not be isolated to a few small areas.”
“One of the big issues people are coming across is where they are going to go while they are getting this work done. They simply cannot rent a house anywhere else because there are no houses to rent. They cannot find any way out of this problem. Some people have decided that they have to buy a mobile home or get some kind of a demountable dwelling or something put on their back street, if they can. Even that is very difficult because they do not have the money to invest in all of this. They certainly do not have the confidence to be able to go and borrow that money because they do not know if the Government scheme will back them up. That is the problem we have got here. We also have the issue of who will do the work. Where will they get the workers to do this?”
“They recognise the fight that people there are having to try to get adequate redress and they are wondering if they will be facing the same down the road. It is not just in that part of Sligo, but in other areas as well because many of these building companies and quarries shared products over and back. When one supplier of blocks was running low, it got a couple of loads from somewhere else. So, somebody bought blocks from one particular supplier not knowing that the product had come from a different quarry perhaps 50, 60 or 100 miles away. This will spread across a large area of the country. It will not be confined to the counties which have got the go-ahead to be in this scheme. The Minister really needs to consider that this will be a much more widespread problem as we move forward.”
“We are talking about ensuring that people have an adequate sense of somebody having their back because they have been let down for so long by so many. The reason we are in this situation is very lax regulation; that is the reality. The quarries that produced these defective products have got away with it and now the houses that were built are crumbling around their owners. These people absolutely need to ensure that we can do something which will be adequate to provide for them and for their future. I have come across people in my constituency who are at the very early stages of this. They are noticing cracks and seeing things, although they are certainly not as advanced as we see in Inishowen and other parts of the country.”
“I want to speak on this issue because it will affect dozens, if not hundreds, of people in my constituency, particularly in west Sligo where an awful lot of people are now coming to the realisation that their homes have been affected by defective building materials and concrete blocks and, indeed, other concrete products that went into their houses. This is not new, of course. Donegal, Mayo and other areas, all the way down to Clare, have suffered the same. The scheme the Minister is putting forward does not go far enough to be able to deal with these issues. That is why I wanted to speak in support of the amendments because these amendments go to the heart of the issue. We are talking about making sure that people get 100% redress.”
“We used to always say that no matter whether you came home in good humour, bad humour or whatever way you were, the dog would come to welcome you wagging its tail. They are always there to welcome people. That sense of affinity we have with these animals will, I feel, give us the strength, as a community and a nation, to ensure we have adequate legislation in place, including on following up. There is no point in having the legislation if we do not follow up and implement the regulations to ensure animals are treated properly. This has to be done with authenticity and must not be something that is swept under the carpet or hidden away. The number of bitches a person needs to have registered to be a breeder may need to come down. Numbers and limits need to be put in place with haste.”
“In most cases, they are also the people who will sound the alarm and let the authorities know when there is a problem. In fairness, the local authorities and county vets in most areas are active. The county vet in my area is extremely active in ensuring that things are done properly and there is not the kind of abuse we have seen in the past and which is happening now to a limited extent. The proposals in the legislation are apt, particularly around insemination. There are issues there that clearly need to be dealt with. The Minister of State said he hopes to deal with this legislation within the year, if not sooner. The sooner the better because it needs to get absolute attention. Everyone, in every corner of these Houses, has an affinity with dogs. People love their dogs and have a great sense of companionship with them.”
“I know it is meeting and doing work on that. We need to get reports from the group and accurate data to know exactly what is happening, how it is happening and what is in place around the country. Of course, there are circumstances in which people are very careless in how they look after these animals and see them only as a means of making money. In my experience, the vast majority of people who breed dogs are not like that. They care and work with the dogs and follow up after they sell a pup, ringing the buyer a month later, six months later and a year later to ask how the dog is doing. They have an affinity with the dogs and look after them very well. That is reflected back, and we hear that from the vets, the people who know what is going on.”
“I cannot imagine how difficult that must be if someone has 30 bitches. Of course, that would not be happening to all of them at the same time, but it is a big operation in those circumstances. My understanding is that there are fewer than 20 breeders in Ireland who have more than 30 bitches. While the number is quite low, that does not mean these operations do not need to be regulated and intensively monitored. A limit is certainly needed but that needs to be worked out. The Bill refers to a figure of 30 and maybe there are arguments around that. We need to hear what those arguments are and see what the situation is. The number of pups going to the UK has been very large for the past ten to 15 years, although I think the figure has gone down somewhat in recent years. That is part of the work the stakeholder group needs to do.”
“Usually, they love and care for their dogs very well, particularly in those small environments. However, that is not always the case. There are always dogs in those environments that are looked after very badly. I have some experience of this. We had dogs at home and I remember the pups coming. On one occasion, they were Irish wolfhounds. We are up at night watching the dogs and waiting for the pups to come. This went on for two nights in a row and when they were born, we had to get a box with a red lamp in it, similar to a small incubator, and put the pups into it to keep them warm. We had to get up every two or three hours and feed the pups because otherwise the bitch would lie over them and possibly kill them. We had to be there with them all the time. It is an intense thing to do.”
“I thank Deputy Whitmore and the Social Democrats for bringing forward this legislation. It is an appropriate time to introduce it given the work being done by the stakeholder group to look at all of these issues. The Government is talking about kicking the can down the road, as it does with so many of the Bills that come before the House. We all need to recognise that we have a difficulty in Ireland when it comes to puppy farming. That said, my understanding is that there is considered to be a market in Ireland for approximately 50,000 puppies per year, about half of which come from registered puppy farms. To be a breeder in Ireland, you have to have more than six bitches. An awful lot of the people who are providing or selling pups have one or two dogs.”
“We also have to ensure we stand up for the right of the citizens of this nation to make their own decisions, have their own sovereignty, make their own laws and have those laws implemented by their own courts. That is what we need to stand for. The difficulty Sinn Féin has with this particular arrangement is that it goes further than we need to go. We do not need an additional court system. We have a court system in place here and we should stand by that. That is why we are totally opposed to the Arbitration (Amendment) Bill.”
“Deputy Devlin stated that Canada is an advanced economy and we have so much in common with it. In the case of the Mercosur countries, it is an entirely different situation. They do not apply the same standards as we have in the European Union, yet we are expected to import Mercosur products to Europe, particularly beef of a much lower standard than that produced in the European Union. We need to recognise that if we are to be on the world stage, we also have to stand up for ourselves, our citizens and the citizens of Europe when it comes to the protection of rights, including workers' rights, and the protection of food quality, which, in the case of Mercosur, is a serious issue.”
“The difficulty we see so often in these agreements is that the winner-takes-all attitude comes very much to the fore. Some of the major corporations are out to make massive profits and if there is anything that could possibly inhibit their profits, it will be cut down and they will have a platform that allows them to sue a state that wants to protect its own citizens from the worst ravages of the markets. We saw the ravages of the markets with the downfall of the economy less than a decade ago. We know what all of this can mean. The Irish Farmers' Association and others were before the agriculture committee this morning discussing another trade deal, the Mercosur trade agreement. We are discussing the possible negative impact of CETA. A lot of negative impacts could also come down the road with the Mercosur agreement.”
“We facilitate services for people to ensure they are protected and the businesses in this country and international businesses coming here are also protected. We are a common law area. We have a lot of things that attract investment, all of which will be undermined by setting up an additional system outside of that. It is totally unnecessary and, in essence, undermines the system all of us worked so hard to ensure works well and is there to protect people's interests. This is the old difficulty we have. It is big business and profit up against the common good. We want to try to ensure, where possible, that both can work together, that the common good is also something which will facilitate and work with business to ensure everyone can grow and multiple and we can make the cake bigger for everyone. That is what we want to do.”
“Much of CETA has already been implemented. However, the part of it that we are dealing with today relates to the investment court structures that have been set up as a consequence. Obviously, Ireland is late coming to the table to ratify this agreement and we are discussing it now, but many other countries also have serious concerns in regard to that. We have courts in this country, in Canada and in Europe. There are already more than enough legal structures in place to deal with whatever disputes that might possibly arise as a consequence of international trade and international agreements. Yet, under this Bill, an additional tier is being set up. It is totally irrational to do this in the context of having our own court system. We pass laws in this House. We bring cases to courts.”
“I know builders who want to build and do not have that. The final issue I want to raise is rural housing. A lot of my constituency is rural. We saw the report from the GAA recently across the whole western seaboard where the population is in decline in parishes and they are having serious issues. It is the same across many areas where we have declining populations yet people cannot build in their own areas where they want to build. Some of it is because of restrictions in place, and some of it is because of soil conditions or whatever else, but the result is the same everywhere. We have no families to keep the schools going and our rural parishes alive. The only way we can do that is to take emergency action to look at all of these rules and regulations again and set the rules aside to start to provide solutions for people.”
“That covers all of south Leitrim through Drumshanbo, Ballinamore, right over to Carrigallen, Mohill and all of that region. It has been at 110% capacity for the past number of years. It is bursting at the seams. If a pipe bursts somewhere, people are without water not for a day or two, but for up to a week, because it has to take so long to fill reservoirs, etc., and the plant cannot cope with the capacity pressure on it. There is a real case for proper infrastructure to be put in place as far as Uisce Éireann is concerned, and it is the same with wastewater in many small towns around the country. If somebody goes looking for planning permission in any of those towns at the moment, they cannot get it because Uisce Éireann cannot guarantee the supply of water or in many cases wastewater services either. That is a serious issue.”