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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“Then there are the GoSafe vans, which of course are put in places where they are sure to catch you - if you are doing a lot of mileage generally, they are sure to get you – instead of being in places that are real black spots. The Government brought down the speed limits. What has happened? Unfortunately, more people have lost their lives. Another thing we have done is around older people and the computer system. People talk about learner permits and all that. Bring them with you; do not bring them away from you. We are now going to say you have to go back to square one. For older people who have had it for X number of years, we need to get them to do their test or sort out something. Some of these people are afraid at the moment to even go in to do the test to get a provisional licence when they have to go in and answer the 40 questions.”
“The councils are underfunded. The Minister of State is from the same county as me and he knows this. Galway is probably one of the worst funded counties in general, but in roads especially. Another issue is roadside hedges. Anyone who drives a lorry will know that the first thing that will happen is the mirrors will be clipped. Two rows of hedges will have been cut and the third one will not have been. They have to keep hedges out of the road. That is causing more problems. We have to sympathise with anyone who has lost their life, but then we decided we would solve it all and reduce the speed limit. If you are going from Ahascragh to Ballinasloe, you would cycle faster on a road that is dead straight and then on a by-road you could go faster. It is absolutely nuts what we have done.”
“As I said, there are ethical, legal and moral factors involved. We can talk about this until the cows come home, but if people lose hope in something, that is a problem. Let us be honest about it. If I go to a trade fair in Europe as the captain of the ship charged with promoting something, there may be a story behind me, rightly or wrongly, that 99% of what I have came through Europe and the other 1% came from one of the Mercosur countries. The problem in that regard is that there are questions as to traceability, medicines and hormones. What is happening has been proved to us by the Irish Farmers Journal . Fear and doubt enters people's minds. Tracking through companies and what is happening is like trying to go out into the world to discover where someone lives. Tomorrow will be an interesting day.”
“I have not spoken to any farmer in the past two weeks who told me that they have confidence in the situation that has developed. If farmers have lost confidence, that is a problem. We rely on the farmers of this country to produce food of the highest quality. They even have to make sure a cat is vaccinated when there is a Bord Bia audit. They have to make sure that the dog is looked after. They have to make sure that the spraying machines and power take-off shafts are right. They do that to make sure that the Irish food that is being exported is a quality product and has the emblem on it. A wider debate has to take place on food labelling in this country and throughout Europe. We are looking at what is coming in and what is going out. This is not just about beef; it is also about pork and chicken. We have to do a lot of research on this.”
“I compared cattle prices in 2023 with those on offer now. There was a difference of €2.50 or €3. Is that because we have experts, heroes or the greatest people running things? It is not. The fact is that Red Tractor in England was able to get 20 cent more for its beef than we got for ours. In Germany, and throughout Europe, the average price was €7.70. I am not saying that someone is doing something wrong. This is about supply and demand and the number of cattle. We lost 250 suckler cows because farmers were sick of pulling calves, and the weanlings were not getting a good price. That is the bottom line. Farmers vote with their feet. Farmers put €6 million towards Bord Bia, and the Government gives money as well. There is legality and morality. Ultimately, if you lose the dressing room, you have a problem.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak on this debate. I welcome the farmers from the farming bodies around the country. There are a few things we need to put into perspective. Farmers contribute €6 million to Bord Bia. No one is knocking every part of Bord Bia. No one is doing that. There is a job for everyone to do. We are great at telling the story, and it is great to hear about the volume of exports each year. I have carried out an analysis in respect of sheep. We do not hear that part of it. In 2022, we exported €475 million worth. In 2023, the figure was down by €35 million. In 2024, it dropped to €400 million. It is now down to €360 million. Not only are there fewer sheep, there is less money coming into the country. We do not hear that story. Let us be honest. Milk prices were good last year.”
“Think of this small crèche in a rural area where people would say nothing is going on. Look at the number of children attending, how it is booked out miles ahead and how there is a wait for places. It wants to get bigger. When funding comes it should also cater for the likes of these services in the countryside.”
“It was not in the time of the Minister of State, but I begged the former Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, with regard to the great people out there who mind a couple of kids in their house and who have to go through such a rigmarole. I feel sorry about this. It is like anything; it is like being in business. Do not ever worry about the person in business beside you because we need everyone to be doing a bit to cater for everything that is going on. I will not do all of the work in the world and nor will someone else. When the Ceann Comhairle was working at the lorries she did not do everything. There is always enough for everyone. I ask that child care be made as affordable as possible. With regard to the grants, I know there is pressure in cities and large towns. I understand that but look up the story of Caisleán Óir in Glinsk.”
“More and more people have come from different areas to use this service. It is out in the middle of the countryside. What has happened now is that we have a community centre and, because we have to make sure that we facilitate children, one third of this community centre is used to sort out the after-school service because more and more kids are using it. It is a great story to read and look at. Now, the service has to expand more. We are out in the sticks but people are coming from a huge area because parents vote with their feet. They look to where there is a service. This service caters for babies right up to children going to school. People come from a radius of five to ten miles around. It is a massive service. It is a community crèche and it is not for profit. We need to make sure we make these services affordable.”
“We are abroad in the middle of the countryside. We have a pub, a shop, a church and a community centre and we built a crèche years ago. There were 48 kids in the local school. Because of the foresight of people in the service, there are now something like 85 or 90 children in the crèche. Enrolment in the school has gone up to 88 or 90. People are coming from the whole area. Does the Minister of State know what our biggest problem is now? Ironically enough, you can be a victim of your own success. With the planning that went into the crèche, the great staff, the management and the community behind it, we decided to provide after-school care. We got a minibus to pick up the kids. They get a lunch and they do their homework, and they are nearly ready to go to bed when they go home or to look at television.”
“Of course, that was banned under new regulations brought in under the then Minister, Deputy Roderic O'Gorman, a few years ago and most of them have left the market. That is a fact. The statistics will tell you that they are not coming back. That is one part of it. The second part is the incredible work done by crèches around the country. There is a big problem with babies. A certain ratio is required. That might be needed. I do not know. A lot of crèches do not want to take the really young babies. This ratio and the money you get out of taking in the really young babies are problems. If we do not address these problems, they will get worse and worse. We must also ensure that the workers in crèches get a proper wage. We have a community crèche in Glinsk called Caisleán Óir. The Minister of State might search it on Google some time.”
“The Government has created the perfect storm. Ireland has applied itself to making sure there are more jobs. That is a great thing. We should always encourage equality and ensure that people, whether men or women, can get jobs. A lot of people in Ireland are now working and that is a great thing. When my kids were growing up, they were able to go over the road to a local person who we would call the childminder. This person might have reared seven or eight children of their own. These people treated our children as if they were their mothers and their husbands would treat them as if they were their fathers. The kids could be dropped off in the morning and picked up in the evening. They were fed, kept and safe.”
“Irish people have opened their houses, businesses and properties to people in this regard, but they will not put up with what is going on at the moment.”
“I realise he is caught now with this European legislation and that if he does not adhere to what we have signed up to, the pact that gives sovereignty away, we can be fined. I welcome what the Minister has done over the past six or seven months, but I will say time and again that there are people who have come here from countries not because they were fleeing war or other such things. They are coming in through the North and by other ways and we have no control over it. We do not know who is coming in. May I be very clear? If people come here through the visa system, they are very welcome to work. Let no one say they are not. Let people not be putting out, especially in the media, that we are against people working. Nobody is against anyone working.”
“Maybe it was not the Minister's Department that was involved at the time, but I am referring to the Department that made the decisions. What has happened has caused havoc in rural communities around the country. Those concerned should hang their heads in shame for what they have done. Civil servants in some Department made these decisions without any of us knowing as politicians. We were left looking like fools, not knowing what was going on. Local councillors were left looking like fools because they could not be told what was happening. A liaison person was sent out who would not tell you X, Y or Z, and that was absolutely sickening. I hope the Minister changes this.”
“They could be here five, six or seven years before being dealt with. I understand that the Minister has made improvements. I acknowledge that and I have said it openly, but the reality is that while the Minister says applications will be processed or decided upon in 12 weeks, if the applicants go to the courts they will be here for another two, three, four or five years. That is a major problem. What has happened in this country, not in the Minister's time but before it, is that many decisions made within the Department saw rural communities pitted against each other. Businesspeople have gone around the country like vultures looking for places, including nursing homes that were closed. We lost nursing homes in this country and they became IPAS centres.”
“Okay. I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate. The Minister was not here when a previous Minister signed more of our country's sovereignty away, to put it very simply. We should still be in control of our own affairs. That has gone. It is water under the bridge now. We have two systems in Ireland. We should make it very clear that we value people who have come here through the visa system and who are doing great work throughout the country. They need to be appreciated for everything they are doing. However, the sad reality is that when a renewal is needed, or when an employer wants to bring somebody in through the visa system, it is a nightmare. That is the fact, whether we like it or not. Then there is the other system, whereby someone may come in on a plane without a passport.”
“However, what we are signing up to is basically Europe dictating again what it is going to do, with Ursula von der Leyen, and we have to be the nodders at the back of it. That is all I have to say. To put it simply, you cannot sign up to a loan.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. First, what Russia is doing is completely wrong and I do not think anyone would condone it. However, at the end of the day, Europe has come together and decided to give a loan, but a loan to what? How will this be paid back? In the name of God, I do not know why or how we have people who sign up to things they call loans. If you go in for a loan, you have to show credentials, have back-up and show how you will pay for something. It is a charade to call this a loan because the capacity to pay it back is not there, to be very frank about it. Looking at our own country, there is the number of people who, unfortunately. are homeless. The Irish people have opened their doors to help people from Ukraine, and rightly so. I am all for it. No one has a problem with that.”
“I ask Members of the Government to stand with the rest of this Dáil and their own conscience. They should think about it: do they want their kids to eat stuff that can cause cancer?”
“The first place to start is in ensuring we have our team on side to win this game. Unfortunately for Fine Gael, two of them seem to be offside at the moment. Unfortunately for Fianna Fáil, one of them seems to be offside. If any Members on that side of the House decide to vote against the Government during a budget or a Bill on health, however, the big finger is out, the Whip is imposed and the Member is thrown out of the party. Is there law and order on MEPs? Are the two main parties - I welcome that they came out last week and said “No” to Mercosur - going to allow the people who are representing them in Europe with the EPP or other groupings to vote for this deal? It is time they get their house in order. Stand with the farmers in Athlone and the farmers of Ireland.”
“There should be a case on this and every bit of it, from the unfortunate person who ate it and right through the chain, needs to be exposed. Let me give one very clear message to factories and distributors: the game is on. They will be chased up for what they are bringing into this country from third countries because it is not trusted. Would they like their sister, brother, mother, father, son or daughter to have eaten that meat? Do they want them to be eating carcinogenic meat? Do they want them to be eating meat containing has medicines that have been banned in Europe for 30 years but are not banned in Brazil? For the sake of a Mercedes, we are going to let it through. How do we go about winning the second part of this game, this dirty rotten deal? The first place to start is at home.”
“First, I salute every farmer and person, not alone farmers, who came to Athlone last Saturday. It was a credit to them. The worrying thing tonight is when I see a consultation for 30 days in a factory not far from here. It shows the signs of policy over the last number of years. A factory in a deboning hall is having a 30-day consultation. You do not have to be a professor to know what is coming out of that. Yesterday, in Brazil, soya producers said they are going back into the rainforest and forgetting about their president and what he is doing. They are going to keep at what they are at. A total of 120 kg of hormonal carcinogenic beef came into this country. What more has come in without us knowing? We should be ashamed of ourselves as a country. Someone should be accountable.”
“I have a query. Has there been a change to the rental accommodation scheme, RAS? I have been contacted by a few people who bought a house and they wanted to sell it. They went through all the procedures 100% correctly, gave proper notice and everything. It appears to be happening with Galway City Council a lot. The council went through all the procedures and there is a timeline of eight or ten months. It has gone on for a year and now the council will not answer emails. The owner of the house does not know what is happening because they wanted to sell their house and the council will not respond to them, which is an usual situation. We have heard this a few times and I am wondering is there some change in thinking or legislation that would have affected RAS?”
“Whether it is right or wrong, and whether you are on the winning side or the losing side at the end, at least we did not sit on the fence and abstain. We had the guts to stand by our farmers right around the country. I am asking the Tánaiste -----”
“We have to step up and make a decision in order to provide clarity for farmers. In fairness, Poland has led on this. Our committee has had meetings with Poland and France. We will be meeting Austria on Zoom. We are talking to their agriculture committees. The least Ireland should do is make a statement that it will be in line with France. If Ireland showed leadership and said we will stand with Poland and we are opposed to this-----”
“Every Wednesday night, we press a button here and decide whether are for or against something. We lose some and we win some, but that is what we do; we make a decision. Poland has made a clear-cut decision. France has asked that the matter to be kicked out to the new year. The least Ireland could do would be to issue a statement and join France in that regard. Whether we are on the winning side or the losing side, we need to be on the side of our farmers. Our farmers are very clear in stating that they do not want that deal. I am a believer that we should put our heads on the block. The Government should never be afraid to be on the wrong side of something, if only for the simple reason that it can state that it made a decision. At the moment, we are like a seesaw; we are neither one way nor the other.”
“We are being told, "If you get the derogation, guys, that's it. Go with us after that or we'll put manners on ye." Is there any truth whatsoever in that? The most important thing I want know - I am not going to be here all day talking about it because it is yes-no answer - is whether the Government will make a statement on behalf of the Irish people in opposition to the Mercosur deal and state very clearly that it will join Italy, France, Poland and the other countries in order to get a sufficient minority or majority, whatever way you want to put it, that will block this deal. That is all I am asking. I want a "Yes" or a "No". If I do not get a clear answer, I will take it as a "No" and that the Government will not do it.”
“Yesterday, amendments put forward by many MEPs from Ireland and other European countries have been basically thrown aside. Ursula is on a mission to jump on a plane, go over and sign on the dotted line because she believes that Mercs, etc., so more important that she is prepared to sacrifice the farmers of Europe. We are not going to go over and back debating the fact that we are looking through this or whatever. We know what is there. The people of Ireland are wondering what is going on within Government circles. I am going to be very straight and blunt. There are hints coming out, and I want the Tánaiste to categorically state whether or not they are true. We are basically being told to shut our mouths when it comes to Mercosur and about the fact that we have been shafted on fish stocks.”
“On behalf of Independent Ireland, I wish a very happy Christmas and a prosperous new year to the Ceann Comhairle, the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, Members and the staff, without whom our job would be fairly tough. I also want to thank the people on the gate in Agriculture House. That are some who might not associate the latter with the Dáil, but they are there every morning at 7 o'clock and work late into the night. We should thank each and every one of them for the way they facilitate us. It was disturbing, to say the least, to see water canon being used in Brussels this morning on farmers from different countries who are there to protest about the Mercosur agreement. We know the ins and outs of this. It has been going on for a long time.”
“We need to praise things when they are good and be good enough to say something is good. Something I ask the Minister to look at is an issue that is very frustrating. In a document I sent in to the Minister's Department, I pointed out that seven years is the time within which people must have compliance with planning or if there is a non-compliance order. There are chimneys in old houses that cracked, were taken down and then slates were put up. That is a normal thing people did, using cop on as I would call it. They will not get an exemption because that is not in compliance with the house that was built 150 years ago. I ask the Minister to look at things like that. I welcome the regulations.”
“Will the Minister work with his Department to give a direction to the councils in this regard? I welcome the provision regarding sizes. This is a good thing for the country. While the exemption is for the agricultural sector, it will help with water quality, as the Minister outlined in his speech. The other measure concerns the changeover of buildings to allow a pub or whatever to be made into a residential property. Anything that will help with housing supply is a good thing. Anything that will give a roof over somebody's head is a good thing. We should welcome that people can do that without going through eight or ten weeks of rigorous planning requirements. I would love to see the croí cónaithe scheme simplified a small bit to speed it up but it is a good grant.”
“I ask the Minister or his Department to give a direction to councils that common sense must prevail here. A person putting down a tank is saving soiled water from going into a field or somewhere it should not go. This is a good provision but it needs to be used in a common-sense way by planners when they are looking at the exemptions. Farmers have no problem going for the exemption but in the west of Ireland, there is a huge number of designated areas, whether SACs or NHAs. If people have to go screening out and undertaking environmental impact assessments, EIAs, and appropriate assessments, when the whole basis of what they are doing is to protect against soiled water by having a tank, then it is contradicting the whole purpose of the regulation.”
“I do not object to the Minister's plans but I have a few queries, including on the agricultural side. I welcome the exemptions. There are new regulations requiring farmers to collect soiled water. The exemption that they can put down a tank to gather that soiled water is a help. It is to be hoped they will get a targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS, grant for it. That will help water quality right around the country, which is the bottom line. The one part of it I am trying to fathom is that a lot of the councils, when they are giving exemptions, look at whether there is a special area of conservation, SAC, or natural heritage area, NHA, within 15 km of a property. If they start with that craic when it comes to the exemption, there will not be many parts of the country that will get it.”
“You bring them three quarters of the way there and they will snarl back at you and catch you. You need to live in the rural areas to understand them. People ask why there is hunting, gun clubs or whatever. The farmer who is affected - when they go out in the morning and see the lamb or whatever gone - they have to contact someone. You do not just run up and see the fox running up the field. It happened hours ago. What we need is for them to come at weekends to make sure that they find the problem in the area. Overpopulation is a major problem.”
“For me, as someone who would not have a gun, if your sheep is lambing and you are out at night, it is not a great sight to see - the Deputies talked about all the things that happen the fox - the head of your lamb gone or most of your lamb eaten. For people who are genuinely interested in making sure there is a viable amount of everything in a managed landscape, do they want to see an old fox waddling along the road not able to even get enough food for itself? I see Senator Brady over there. He highlighted the person in Cavan who thought the fox was going to be a nice tame animal that would be their pet and had to get five stitches. Tell that to them. In cities at the moment, people are feeding foxes. It is trying to tame a wild animal. It does not happen.”
“I have no financial or other interest in hunting and do not even own a gun. I cannot be accused of being lopsided because of it. A lot of people would not even know what neosporosis is. A farmer in rural Ireland whose cows are aborting will know all about it. It comes from foxes where overpopulation happens. We come from a managed landscape. We saw a few years ago, from Kerry to Donegal, throughout the country, the problem of the overpopulation of deer. People driving on the roads had to dig into their own insurance or their own pockets because of the overpopulation of deer. There were herds of deer running around the country. We have to keep things controlled.”
“It is holding jobs up for six, seven or eight years. I understand that this is the first normal winter in Lough Funshinagh and I welcome that. The problem for housing and all the different projects in the country is that we are now at a stage where it is seven or eight years and we are going around in circles. This is aided and abetted by NGOs that the Government is funding. That is the reality of it. Look at the case that is going on at the moment regarding the derogation, aided and abetted by NGOs. We have to decide whether to pull the plug on their funding as well as going to Europe to explain that people have to live and that we have to change this legislation for the betterment of people.”
“I welcome what the Minister has said but this is the reality so far. Unfortunately, I have lived through a review of the habitat's directive. I was invited to go to a meeting. To be honest about it, I would have been better going home to count the cattle, because I wasted a day doing a review of the habitats directive. You were only allowed to speak for a few minutes and after that it was, "Good luck and good night" and nothing ever came of it. I did that a few years ago after being asked to do it. The sad part of the ECJ needs to be looked at. If I, as a person with knowledge of the matter, were asked to give evidence of the background to something, I would not even be allowed to put in the paperwork towards it when Ireland is being taken on. The Minister talked about all the different places.”
“This legislation started off in 1997, but the interpretation being used by the European Court of Justice, ECJ, kangaroo court, as I would call it, of the habitats directive, aided and abetted by NGOs funded by the State, is trying to wrap the State up in knots. It cannot continue. I commend the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan. Yesterday in Brussels, he spoke about how the ECJ interpretation of immigration and so on was becoming a problem. If the Government wants to make progress on housing, roads or all the major infrastructural projects, then Ministers in the Council of Ministers in Europe will have to get together. We are well able to come in here at times, and Europe will send over more legislation on top of what we have already on whichever item we are talking about.”
“I have seen young people in my area who are 40 miles from Lough Corrib, but because the Sinking River goes into the River Clare and goes on to Lough Corrib, people building a house in a rural place have to spend €2,500 in case it may have an impact on the site. A few years ago in the Minister of State, Deputy Harkin's constituency, a snail that did not exist held up work on Lough Talt by Irish Water to provide water to 9,000 people or 10,000 people in the area. This cannot continue. It is blocking the Government and tying its hands. The Government has dealt with this on Lough Funshinagh as well. The Government, councils and private investors trying to make progress, be it building houses, building roads or whatever infrastructure, are all being blocked.”
“During the week, the news of the derogation was welcome, but the real work starts now. Unfortunately, unelected bureaucrats in Europe have put in a proviso, because of the habitats directive, that over the coming years, what a cow does in a field and the impact of this on the Barrow, Nore, Suir, Blackwater, Owenriff or whatever other river will have to be screened. This will cost the State millions of euro. I do not know if there will be enough scientists to do all of this in the timeline. There is a bigger and wider problem of flooding that the Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, will have seen. The problem is that of objections and how the habitats directive is being used to block people. We see difficulties now if people try to extend a port or an airport, build a road or build a house.”
“Europe will hoodwink, mollycoddle and do whatever it has to do to get enough over the line because Germany controls and a few countries dictate what is going on in Europe. Let us not be waffling that we will decide what Europe will do. At the end of the day, despite it being demonstrated that the regulations for the quality of food are totally different, eyes will be closed to that because Mercs out of Germany are more important than looking after the people of Europe. This is the same setup and that is why I will vote against the Bill.”
“When the habitats directive was introduced, only a few people in the west were affected. It now affects every port, airport, road and everything else. We are constantly giving things away. What is the overall plan in Europe? Is it to make a county council out of the Dáil and leave councillors with less again while Europe dictates everything? It is damnable to see that companies can take our State to court and we will vote for this agreement. To be quite frank, we need to start holding onto what we have and the bit of sovereignty that is left. Let me be very clear - it is not much. People have said there will be a handbrake and whatever else in respect of Mercosur. The handbrake cable is well gone. Will it be stopped? It will not.”
“Most elected representatives, if the playing field is fair, are open to trade agreements. The reality of the past few trade agreements, be it Mercosur or this one, is that the playing field is not fair. I smiled when I heard the Taoiseach say a few years ago that one was backward if one felt one needed a sovereign state. When he spoke about Ukraine the other day, he made reference to a sovereign state. Europe has stripped us of an awful lot of stuff. We are in control of fewer and fewer things. Europe developed the habitats directive a few years ago, which has basically tied us up in knots. Housing is a major problem everywhere. We have set about giving things away and allowing the likes of Europe to dictate certain documents that are destroying this country. We are now paying the price.”
“I welcome the things and I wish the Government luck with it but the devil will be in the detail over the coming years and I think the Government will need the emergency legislation. I hope I am proved wrong.”
“We need to bring in emergency legislation that if a site is designated for housing, if it is zoned, be it for 27 houses or 30 houses per acre, there should be not debate about it. Give it planning and get it going. If we want to deliver, we have to ride roughshod over it, whether we like that or not. Emergency legislation is what I believe is required. I know the Government is trying to stop judicial reviews and stuff like that but if we keep fiddling around, what will happen is, at the end of the day, with the best regard in the world, they will go to the courts and they will keep going to the courts and they will keep blocking it. This bullshit is to stop if we want to build houses. We have got to get hard and get heavy at it if we want to deliver for the people.”
“I spoke before on this. I hope this solves the housing thing, that is being honest. I do welcome the likes of the modular on it and different steps where we are going to go designing the same type of house and all of those things. These are things that should be have been done years ago but I welcome them. I cannot see a lot on rural housing. I believe that family members should be allowed build houses. We need to make sure that we accommodate people now but the devil will be in the detail. I hope we build the 300,000 houses but we need to change our tune. I have said for the last four or five years, that this is not us against the Government or the Government against us.”
“That is a sad reflection from people who set up a business in Ireland, employ Irish people and would die for this country. We need to make sure there is accountability. I am not talking about the judicial reviews. All of that stuff is further on.”
“As I said earlier, I welcome the legislation he is proposing but it talks about ABP judicial reviews - I agree that there are too many of them - and how it will be more difficult, to put it simply. There are different tweaks like that and the Taoiseach is talking about emergency legislation but I am talking about an ordinary person who is creating jobs in rural Ireland. In the west, 200 jobs to us are the same as 4,000 in Intel. That is the reality. The problem is that before we go to judicial review or keep going on all the other parts the Government is bringing in - as I said, I welcome that - the State agency, ABP, has held these people up. The board of directors of this company is meeting next to decide whether they will pull plant in Ireland and go to Denmark.”