Michael Fitzmaurice
Roscommon-Galway · Independent Ireland · Ireland
“Basically, there was no Exchequer money at that time but we were still able to keep the bus service going. Unfortunately, there have been reviews, public consultations and various documents since then.”
“I thank the Tánaiste for that. The number was 120,000 in 2018. Think back, however, and you will see that it was 135,000 or 140,000 in the eighties. That was the base figure at a time when Ireland was awash with money.”
“A few weeks ago, I brought to the attention of the Minister of State, Deputy Harkin, a problem regarding apprenticeships. In fairness, she rang me last Sunday evening. Over the past few weeks, she has resolved this issue, which had given rise to problems for many apprentices. I thank her for resolving it.”
“I handed that list to the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, and he sent it on to the relevant Department. You can go from Boyle to Taghmaconnell in Roscommon, right through Fuerty, Athleague and other areas all the way into Galway and you will encounter the same problem. We can give out about what is happening, but we need to solve it.”
“They picked up students and brought them to national schools and secondary schools. Those buses were owned by the State. Ireland had, on average, a population of 3.5 million during the eighties. At that time, we were transporting between 135,000 and 140,000 children to school.”
“An awful lot of the children I am talking about have had concessionary tickets for the past two years. When the contracts are being drawn up, I just do not know why they to not reference 23- , 33- or 50-seaters. If this is done and if the population increases, all involved would under the procurement rules, be able to adapt.”
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“She is powering on, so determined to make a full recovery. The problem here has to do with a bed space, speech and language therapy and physio. I ask the Tánaiste to work with us and to ask the Minister for Health to work with us. This needs resolving for someone who has gone through a tough situation. She is a determined, fit, young person of 39 who wants to make a full recovery. She has worked all her life, as has her husband, and they are in the hospital every day trying to defeat the hard situation they have come through. She walked with a Zimmer frame, then threw that away and walked on her own, but the hand needs help. Speech and language therapy is the big one.”
“I want to compliment my constituency colleague, Dr. Martin Daly, because both of us know the family. This is not about votes or politics. This is about two people working together who have at heart the interest of a young person with young children and who has been left in a situation that is very difficult. Since then, we have been frustrated by the HSE systems. Under them, Beaumont cannot transfer a person to Merlin Park. You have to go through another hospital in the west of Ireland, such as Ballinasloe. In fairness to Deputy Daly, thanks to the calls he has made, the girl has been transferred to Ballinasloe. However, it is an horrific situation. An insurance company has walked away from the insurance the lady had. One top of that, this woman is trying every day. Her husband goes up and they go for walks.”
“Shortly after Christmas, what we would classify as a fit young woman of 39 years of age was in a gym in Athlone. When she came out with her two young children, she fell to the ground. I compliment the paramedics and air ambulance staff who brought her to Beaumont Hospital, where they found a bleed in the brain. I compliment Beaumont Hospital for all of the work it did. The hospital stabilised her and did a lot of work but, unfortunately, where walking and speech are concerned, her speech and one side of her body were affected. Physio and rehabilitation were required. She was told that going to Dún Laoghaire was an option, but the wait there was very long. Then, she looked at Clontarf. Peamount was out of the area. Unlike what often goes on in here with the bickering, I want to be a bit different.”
“This is another layer that you either have to try to knock out of the guy buying it in some other country or take the hit. Will the Department sit down with exporters and try to work out a cohesive plan?”
“I understand fully what the Minister says. The certificates are done by other countries but, in fairness to anybody exporting, there was no quarantining when exporting four months ago. Trade is trade. Whether it is a farmer or an exporter going for it, good luck. That keeps the price up. That is the good part of that. Four months ago, however, this was not needed. This is a new regulation that has been brought in. Yes, the Minister is right that it is other countries that want it - I do not disagree whatsoever - but with the number of cattle being exported, if they have to be PCR tested and have to have everything done with them in the line of vaccination, it will cost a lot of money. If there were all that much money to be got out of it, everyone in exporting would be a multimillionaire, but the fact is that there is not.”
“The Minister will have seen over recent weeks, especially since Christmas, the way the factories look at the charts in the league of meat prices throughout Europe. We are at the bottom now and the factories are basically taking advantage. We need live exports. I know the Minister is in favour of them but, as regards the extra cost, no one saw this coming. Yes, exporters have to pay for boats and everything else, but these are new costs put on top of them. Would the Minister consider a fund?”
“I thank the Minister's Department for getting the health certs done in each country. I am not debating whatsoever what other countries do, and I agree with him that other countries set this down. However, the fact is that other countries in Europe have brought in funds to help with exporting. The Minister will be aware that in some of those countries, first, you have to quarantine and, second, you have to do either PCR tests or vaccines. A vaccine, no matter how you go, is €15. The Minister knows as well as I do that we need a live export trade. In fairness to the live exporters, they go out and source the market. It is not Bord Bia that does it for them. They source those markets themselves. They do not have the same representation as the likes of the meat factories would have abroad.”
“They genuinely feel the need for it to help the future education of children. Every one of us knows that if children, especially those with autism, get the help between the ages of two and eight, they can go on and live a very fulfilled life. If they do not get that help, they have been let down by the State. I have said very clearly over the last number of years that kids have been failed by the State because in the system of diagnosis the HSE has had until now, people have had to wait for assessments to provide the pathway forward and do what needed to be done. We should make sure we put the resources in to help all those children for the future.”
“A lot of them do not understand what they are doing. That is my honest opinion. We need to resolve the issue fast to give surety to parents around the country. I have spoken to the Minister of State about this a few times. There are schools that are appealing decisions. A principal in a school does not ring up a politician and say "Michael, we are in trouble here, we need an SNA and we are put under appeal and they seem to be bashing back at us." Principals in schools have plenty to do besides trying to fight battles constantly to get what they rightfully should get. I have seen in the likes of Threen, and places like it around the country, that principals had to get involved, do up the paperwork and try to appeal. They are not into the business of looking for something they do not need.”
“I noticed over the last few days that senior Ministers are very fond of coming out and making announcements. Between watching television interviews and different commentaries on it, I notice the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, is being rolled out every time. Where is the senior Minister from Galway? She was good at coming out when the decision was being reversed. That the Minister of State had to do the batting for the last few days is very notable. This needs to be sorted. There are vulnerable children. Our Constitution says we will cherish all our children but, unfortunately, there seems to be a total disconnect in having this issue resolved. Once again, it is probably senior civil servants making decisions without having their eye on the ball. Do they have a child who needs an SNA in a school?”
“Also, the Department of the environment has brought in recycling under Article 27 and Article 28. Does the Taoiseach realise who is setting up those plants around Ireland, because it is €12 million to set that up?”
“What I am saying to the Taoiseach is that the facts are, if I am a small quarry operator, it is going to cost me €300,000 to do the reports that those planners need. That is not sustainable for the small guy. Does the Taoiseach realise that at this minute - I will put it on record here - we are heading for four quarries in Ireland because the big guys are mopping up? I would urge the Taoiseach to get someone to research, through the Land Registry, who owns the quarries in Ireland. Four of them are buying up everything around them because they have the legal eagles, the accountants and the funds behind them, and the small guy is being pushed out of it. Those are the facts of what is going on. I understand about the habitats directive, but look at what is going on in this country in relation to that.”
“How does the Taoiseach propose, in the line of planning for quarries, to reduce that figure and keep them in the game? Is he going to allow stone shifted from site that was bought new to be exempted?”
“That is €2,000 more to take the stone out as per the new regulation that has gone in under Article 27. Article 28 is where - I will explain it to the Taoiseach - if you had a house down the country that needed knocking, and you basically knocked it down, put it in a crusher and crushed it up, you would have to spend the same money on that house to be able to move that stone. That is what we are doing at the moment. In relation to concrete, in 2020 concrete was about €70 to €80 per cu. m. It is gone to €130 at the moment and is going up again by €10 because of carbon taxes, they will tell you, electricity costs and obviously the defective blocks are going to be part of it. They are saying very clearly it is because of what they call the greenwashing that is going on in this country.”
“This is what you call costs rising constantly. Then we talk about muck away. On 1 March this year, for the small operators that take away muck from housing sites, €10 a tonne is going onto a load of muck. That is €200 a load. Some €3,000 for a semi-detached is going onto a load of muck and each house being built, and the Government talks about cutting costs. Then, the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, and the Department are going to say, "Ah well, sure there is way out" and there are Articles 27 and 28. I will give the Taoiseach the facts of Article 27. First, under Article 27, if I buy new stone off a quarry - if I bring it in for what we call a haul road, where it will be taken away again - to take that new stone away from that site, I have to employ a person and get a report done for €1,500 now, plus €250 each for the two samples.”
“The Taoiseach spoke earlier about the need for housing and everyone right around the Dáil here agrees on the urgent need for more houses. He spoke about 50,000 houses and it is welcome that he has that aspiration and the policy to try to back it up but I would like to go to the nuts and bolts of this. At the moment in Ireland, a person with a small quarry will be four to five years trying to get planning and will have to spend a minimum of €300,000 on reports and getting through the planning process. The Minister of State, Deputy Grealish, is beside the Taoiseach. From Galway city to the Atlantic Ocean is probably 50 miles at least and there is not one quarry in that area now because they are all being blocked. Looking at the cost, a load of stone and six-inch down in 2013 was €4 a tonne ex-pit; it is about €12 a tonne now.”
“While education is very important, I fear the consequences if we do not put a floor under family farming to make it attractive for lads and girls to go into farming, and if they keep hearing about cuts and various things blocking them from farming. If you rewet your land, you do not need to live in the area. You can live in Dublin and can get your cheque if you want. If you have forestry on your land, you can live in America if you want. This is what we must consider. Are we going to try to keep the rural areas populated? This is bigger than just farming. The rural economy, which every one of us knows, is built around it. I encourage the Government, Teagasc and all the so-called experts who believe in visions and whatever to reconsider the vision they have had since 2010. They will need to get glasses to look at it and rethink the policy.”
“Is there an agenda to drive everyone to the city? All I can see in parts of this country is a certain number of farms that are getting bigger and bigger. The average suckler herd is probably 18 or 20 cows but many farms now have 5,000 to 9,000 cows. These are not family farms and I do not care who argues otherwise. We are letting this happen and forgetting the people who lived in the rural areas. Every one of us here comes from an area of family farms, small farms. We never grew up with much but we always had enough. We built the communities in our areas. Community centres were built, as were football pitches. There was a meitheal of people.”
“If we were doing everything so right in the whole of Europe over the last 15 years, why have 5.5 million farms been shut down? That is a queer figure. It is 5.5 million probably multiplied by 2.5; when we are doing an election that is how we tally up how many are in a house. It is 12.5 million people who are now not in farming. That should ring alarm bells for us that we need a commission. We can follow the European project. They are the whiz-kids. They want us to get rid of steel and bring in most of our products. Do you know why? Climate was mentioned many times, but it is that they want us to tick this box that we are the best kids in the world. This is so we can tell America, China and everyone else, but at the end of the day it is about pounds, shillings and pence. How do we build a rural community?”
“Can you get that more, however? It is hard done when you go in as a young farmer. It is hard done when the solar company is trying to put solar panels on the fields beside you when it is for sale, or the wind turbine fella that is owned by a foreign company is trying to put wind turbines in another field, or the forestry companies - the vultures we decided we would bring in from England - come from another place and start bidding against you. It is not simple. We saw what happened in Leitrim. We see the number of trees that have been put into the likes of Leitrim. I know a certain number of trees are wanted, but where there are trees, whether we like it or not, there will not be houses, farmers, sheep, cattle, horticulture or whatever. There will be the sawmill, which gives employment, but look at the ratio of it.”
“If you build a rural economy, where Google, Intel and all these big guns do not exist, money circulates in that rural area and it brings prosperity, but what are we doing? The nature restoration law is about re-wetting some parts of the land. I listened to the Minister of State. He used the words "environment" and "climate" seven or eight times. This is about farmers. It is about farmers not diversifying but coming to the land, be they lady farmers or male farmers. If we look at what we have done, the stats will tell you it is backwards we have gone on age profile and in trying to get youngsters into farming. We need to encourage that or we will be in trouble. We are looking at youngsters and talking about generational renewal. If you had 30 or 40 acres one time, you need more now. There is no doubt about it.”
“For someone trying to buy a house in Dublin, it is €500,000 at the moment for what we call half a house compared with some of the houses we are looking at. If you get a job locally and, between the two legs of the stool, you do not need as big an income from one or the other, you will survive and make a living between the land and the job. You work hard but it is probably the greatest life you will ever have. There are times you are frustrated with it, but it is a great life to have, if you can make it work. The knock-on effect of that, and this is where the rural economy has to be looked at, is a few people are employed in the local shop. As outlined by Deputy Kenny, there is also the local GAA club and local community centre, and there might be a local pub.”
“When we look at the stats, does it not tell us that the age profile is 59 and suckler cows will be down 250,000? Yet, we still go on with our heads buried in the sand believing everything is hunky-dory. The new CAP strategic plan - there will be a bit of toing and froing - will decrease by 24%. The poor old farmer in the west of Ireland is getting €4,000 or €5,000, if it is reduced. Is the next generation going to come on stream, particularly with the opportunities that are there at the moment? Do we not look at the third leg of the stool, as I always do? If you are brought up on a small farm, in some counties at least, you might be able to build a house on the land, although some, with the way planning is going at the moment, are blocking that. You might be able to build a house. In fairness, if you have the site, you will build a house.”
“Europe has decided that it will give Denmark the go-ahead, as I mentioned earlier, to get €1 billion together to get Johnny, Ludovic or whatever his name is off the farm and pay him, but he has to sign a docket that he will never farm in Europe again. He can go to Canada or Brazil, but he cannot farm in Europe. The same has happened in Holland. The nature restoration law is up in the air at the moment. We heard on day one that the State was going to be able to cover all the requirements. I have a question as to that, but I will not make a rash statement. We talk about getting youngsters in, but if we had such good plans on the farms, and if Food Vision 2030, or 2020 or 2010, worked, would we be down 100,000 sheep? Would we be down 274,000 suckler cows in ten years?”
“I support the Bill. I have known the Minister of State a good while, but whoever wrote his speech has never pulled a calf or brought lambs. I will tell him one thing; you would wonder what we are listening to compared with what we are talking about. He talked about the CAP strategic plan. The fact about the new CAP and Food Vision 2030 is that at this moment, farmers around the country are facing a 24% cut to their CAP payments. How will that protect the family farm? The Minister of State talked about well-being. The average age of farmers today is 59. Most farmers out in the rain, snow or sun are on their own. Generally, the only person they see is the postman. We talk about well-being. What have we done for them when it comes to their well-being? How do we encourage young people in when we look at what Europe is doing?”
“Is that what Irish people who want to go down to the Four Courts and go blocking jobs are about? We should have respect for everyone in this country and for those people who are in situations where the State is willing to help them but where someone comes along in their own interest and goes blocking.”
“To be quite blunt, sometimes councils could be offered the money but they do not put in the gee-up into trying to get it done. That needs to be done as well. There is no point in saying it does not. There is no one-fit solution or one thing that will solve it all, but we need to work collaboratively together. To be frank, in most cases it is not money that is the problem, which is an unusual thing to say in here. It is the paperwork, the bureaucracy and the blocking by outside interests. I say to those people, have a think to yourself. Would you like your mother, your father, your brother or your sister to be looking out at what I am after talking about - and I am over 6 ft - and to be looking out a window and seeing the water higher than the house you were born, bred and reared in or the house you built.”
“I look at Lough Funshinagh, in Roscommon, and I saw what really good people in that area had to go through. I looked out a window one day, and to the top of my head the water was up higher on the far side of the road. That is frightening for anyone, and those good people live an ordinary life. They do not want to be saying anything or shouting or roaring, but the reality is that if that bank had pushed to the far side, they would have been in trouble. In fairness, pumps have been put in and an interim measure has been done, but we need to get long-term solutions, and not alone there. I am not talking about "If you do not do my back door" stuff. We need to get it in all the different parts, but it needs a myriad of joined-up thinking and speeding up.”
“I remember we were down in Crossmolina years ago. I think that job has been done now, has it not? Was it in 2016 or something we were down there? It has taken seven or eight years to get all the paperwork right and to get that job rolling. It will be great for those people when it is done. You see the relief on people's faces. You will hear some people say the properties are built on a floodplain. If they were built 100, 200 or 300 years ago on a floodplain, we are hardly going to tell the people to move on to another place. We have to put in the measures to try to resolve the issue for the people at hand, Athlone being a perfect example, and go to different parts of the country. When those measures are put in, they are successful. We have to just think.”
“I have referred before to rules and regulations and to the reports and, to be blunt about it, what I would call “rubbish” required because of European legislation. We have left the door open to people who want to see nothing happening in a country and who want to shoot down to the Four Courts to try to block projects. That is not acceptable because if a Minister is trying to get works done, it is a cruel thing to see the likes of a job being blocked. Go out to Connemara at the moment and look at Rossaveal, where we are trying to deepen a port. That has been blocked. Why? Because it has gone to the courts. Go around the country and look at that. That is not tolerable. I have said it time and again: we have played into the hands of these people who do not want to see progress. Until we change some of this, we will be in trouble.”
“There is a problem because nearly everyone wants to stop you from doing everything. If this continues and we do not put a system in place, things will get worse in the currently affected areas. Everyone looks to the OPW. It is but one part. The councils have to do their bit and Irish Water needs to look at the pipes put in years ago to take the storm-water. Joined-up thinking needs to take place. On bigger rivers, you have Inland Fisheries Ireland, the Inland Waterways Association of Ireland, the fisheries and the National Parks and Wildlife Service. In some cases, the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing because everyone is trying to stop things. We need collaborative thinking, as argued for by Deputy Aird, and we also need to ask how we can speed things up.”
“I thank the Minister of State for liaising with me in the past few weeks on the River Suck and the Shannon. The next aspect is drains. I remember when you could make, clean and do everything else with a drain. Now a farmer is afraid to make one because someone from the fisheries authorities or Department might say it is not allowed. Councils used to deal with a certain number of drains but now it is the case that if there is a bush, they will go every side of it rather than remove it. That bush might be growing for only 15 or 20 years and might be what we call a sucker. It is in the line of a small tree. If you do not keep a drain or river maintained, you will cause problems because there is a build-up. Let us be clear: built-up material has to be removed but this is not being done.”
“Flooding is a fairly complicated scenario. It might look simple to address and devastating for families but there are a lot of different parts to this. The first thing people need to understand relates to towns especially. When Dublin was being developed, a certain number of pipes were put in, maybe 12 in., 14 in. or 18 in. in diameter. Then it was decided to build more houses and buildings, which was good, but the pipes had to take more and more water from the new estates. This went on and on. No more than with what you put into your mouth, sooner or later it does not all fit in. You have to do things in proportion. That is one aspect. Another aspect is cleaning out gullies. A lot of flooding is caused by simple things like gullies not being cleaned out.”
“I welcome the announcement, and the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, is here, in relation to the likes of modular granny flats and all of that coming in. I thank him for a meeting we had in the past few weeks. I have one question we are getting a lot of calls about, which is the modular unit or small shed at the back that people want to try to get done up. When does the Government envisage the legislation will go through the House so people can plan for it now?”
“However, he is being taken out. We are probably going to replace him with someone who can shove a bit of a hormone or medicine into an animal that is banned in Europe. Does that make sense? This is what I am saying. Where is the focus? Can leaders reset the agenda? Countries are under pressure because they have to hit this target. Once we hit the target, we are the best kids in the class. That is what seems to be the thing. Whatever sacrifice we have to make, if we have to be the salesperson for it, it is sound, provided we do not produce it. That is the worry I have throughout Europe.”
“I never said I was totally opposed to trade deals. We have to bring in bananas and other things from some other countries. There is no one saying otherwise. The question I am asking is whether it does not sound an alarm to all European leaders. By the way, if you look at the stats for Irish exports, most of them go to Europe and the UK, especially in the line of beef. Think about if policy was right in industry and agriculture. Figures have gone up in industry and people working. We have lost 5.5 million farms in Europe. I will give the Tánaiste an example. I spoke to a farmer from Denmark yesterday. He is an organic farmer. He is a big organic farmer in my book because he had something like over 300 cows. He is doing organic. That is the best type of farming if you want to be the perfect student in the class.”
“I thought we all lived in the same world, where the cow puts up the same methane and farts the same in some other part of the world as in Europe. Why are we doing this to the farmers of Europe?”
“Steel and other heavy industries have been driven out of Europe. On the figures relating to what we have to achieve in climate, it appears farmers are the next casualties, when you look at the reasons both Denmark and Holland have decided to do what they are doing. We seem to be now more content to bring cooked, vacuum-packed chicken in from China and feed people in Europe with it than to farm the chickens in Europe. We seem to be more content to bring in beef or other products because of the methane out of cattle. I am asking the Tánaiste - and I am also asking the Taoiseach - whether, when European leaders meet, this madness that is going on can be halted. We are taking prime land out of production in Europe and we still think of Covid and self-sufficiency. At the same time, we are going to fly it or boat it.”
“We have done it in this country, where farmers have set aside 10% for nature. They did not say anything about it, may I add, and they were prepared to do it. The nature restoration law is coming in and the interpretation of it will be known in the next few months. I will not make a hasty statement one way or the other in the line of that. Stats tell us that throughout Europe in the last 15 years we have lost 5.5 million farms. That is 5.5 million families. That is a colossal amount. There is something wrong. It is not that we are against trade deals, but there seems at the same time to be a massive push - be it New Zealand, Australia, Mercosur or CETA - to make sure we hammer these deals fairly quickly. There seems to be an agenda driven by the Commission and Ursula von der Leyen.”
“During Covid, the buzzword everywhere in every country was about food security and making sure that where shortages were showing up in places, we would learn from those mistakes. Ironically enough - in my opinion, it is because of Commission pressure - over the last couple of years it is worrying to see in Holland that regarding 10% of the land where farmers were farming, they had to sign a docket. They were basically turfed out and told they cannot farm in Europe again. They had to sign that docket. It is the same this week. The European Commission is after giving Denmark the go-ahead for a €1 billion fund which will take out 9% to 10% of its lands. In every country throughout Europe, we see the pressures on land in the line of forestry, solar and wind. Also, we see new EU regulations.”
“All of us, including Deputies Martin Kenny and Paul Lawless, met the Minister before and we appreciate that but we need to know for those guys what is going on because there seems to be a vacuum for those people.”
“In fairness, the Department briefed us before and we appreciate that but we need up-to-date briefings because there is a fair bit of over and back, and Scotland is being brought into it now, about what is going on with exports to Northern Ireland and the UK. We are fairly okay with some of the European countries but in others, it seems to be 14 days. The Minister is well aware of videos that were going around from some shippers. All that is needed is for the Minister to be up front with us, so we can give the message to other people because this is about the live cattle industry. If you do not have a good live trade, the problem is the factories and the dead trade will try to take advantage, and we do not want that to happen. That is all I would ask the Minister for.”
“I welcome this debate. The Dáil has learned a lot about bluetongue. People need to know anything you eat is safe and that it does not spread, like some diseases, mouth to mouth. I think that is very important for the public. I ask the Minister one thing, which is that public representatives are informed about where we are with Tunisia, Northern Ireland and the likes of Greece and some other countries he would be familiar with that we are exporting to. We are getting a lot of feedback at the moment from Northern Ireland and we are hearing this blame game going on. The North is saying it is not responsible and that it is the Irish side. We are getting the same type of stuff from the shippers. The Department staff need to be clear with us, so we know what is going on.”
“When all the reports and everything else have been done, we will still be below in the courts for another few years being held up because someone somewhere believes that the little flower is more important than Mary or Johnny's house getting flooded. Until that mentality changes, we are in trouble.”
“It is 40 miles away from Lough Corrib. Does the Minister of State know what the couple had to do? They had to get a screening out. They spent €2,500 to be told, "By the way, this won't do any harm." That is where we have gone as a country because of European regulation. To be honest about it, if I was the Minister or someone else was Minister, we would still be handcuffed and we would be in the courts down the road because of environmental legislation. Until we decide we are going to sort this out, even if it was God almighty, we will have to go through this process for seven, eight or nine years of torture.”
“I took part in an overview of it a few years after it. I would have been as well off if I had gone home and counted cattle, to be quite frank about it. I gave my view, and nothing happened. I ask the Government to change that. It is not for Ministers to do. It is going to take the likes of the Taoiseach and Tánaiste when Ireland has the Presidency of the EU for six months. We need to do that. Go to Dublin Port or Dublin Airport and have a look at it. Go to any road job or any flooding job and have a look at it. I will give an example which shocked me one day. In Clonberne in County Galway, a young couple were building a house. A drain down near the back of the house goes into the Sinking river, heads on through Slieve to Dunmore, goes into another river, heads for Galway and goes into the River Clare and then goes into Lough Corrib.”
“Go to Lough Funshinagh. There was a great story told in Galway where there was a flood on the road. The council went out to let the water go. It was rung and told that it could not let water in there because it was a special area of conservation. We would rather have a car crash than let water go. We can talk about it here but, at the end of the day, the habitats directive was transposed into law by our now retired President, Michael D. Higgins. We must decide to put people and lives before some of the objections, like in Lough Talt. When Irish Water wanted an extraction licence for Lough Talt, an objection was made because of a snail, even thought the snail had disappeared for over 20 years. We need to amend that legislation. I am not saying the Government will be able to scrap every bit of it.”
“We are now faced with the situation where scientific studies lasting for a few years are needed to show that the same water that was going out will not damage some bit of a flower on the edge of Lough Ree because it is going out through the river. No matter who it is, even if I was Minister in the morning, they would pull their hair out. I would not have hair with what I am watching with the habitats directive. We can talk here and give out about relief jobs not being done. However, at the end of the day, it is about the habitats directive and that legislation needs to be changed when Ireland has the Presidency of the EU. Go to Rossaveal in Connemara, which is the Minister of State, Deputy Grealish's area. There is machinery standing up because of environmental objections and a court case. Go down south to all the schemes.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak in support of this motion. In fairness, money is not a problem but trying to get it done is a problem. The Minister of State, Deputy Moran, and I have been involved with Lough Funshinagh for a number of years. I have seen previous Ministers. What had to be done in Lough Funshinagh was a temporary measure to allow the water to be pumped away. Does the Minister of State know what the reason is? The pipes were three quarters down. Environmentalists brought a case to court. The pipes were to go for about half a mile, then onto a river and out into Lough Ree. At one time, the water from Lough Funshinagh used to go out to Lough Ree underground, but that basically blocked up.”
“We need to be considerate and work with people. Above all is safety on roads. The problem is those roads are in a bad state around the country and it is causing a lot of accidents. However, we blame everything else to make sure that we do not have to put more money into it.”