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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“I know under TAMS he is doing something with the roofs of sheds. I would have liked if that was happening now because there were weanlings and cows in sheds looking up at the sky at night to see the stars. It would be helpful if that was given now. He has committed to giving it in the coming months, which I welcome. That is a step in the right direction. I ask Deputy Calleary, as Minister for rural affairs, as we have mentioned before, to look at the likes of community centres to create hubs. Be it a small village or a bigger place, I ask the Minister to create a hub so that if a doctor needs to set up or there are people without food who need to cook in it, there is a facility in all those areas and it works. I ask the Minister and his Department of Rural and Community Development to look into that and to try to get it over the line.”
“It should be 30 m from the road because these trees are growing 30 m high. That is the end of story, with no ifs or buts about it. If people lose out on that, they lose out on it. You can pay them for the ground but they will not have trees on it. That is the way it should be. Where wires go through forestry or anywhere else, I would be all for planting two smaller trees down in the field or wherever to make up the difference. I am not saying we should leave the country treeless. We need to make sure we consider the costs entailed. If you analyse where trees caused a problem compared with where poles broke in other situations, the ratio is 100:1. That is the fact. If you can eliminate 99% of the problems and reduce them to 1%, you will not have too many losing power. I welcome the Minister, Deputy Heydon's announcement about generators.”
“Our Department is still giving licences to plant near the road and the lines. A distance of 30 m to either side of a wire should be completely clear, because no one should ever have to go through the torture that people went through. The first thing that needs to be done is for the ESB to stand up and, if it says legislation is needed, it should be done. Letters are going round from people who wrote to the councils about trees. People wrote to the Department of the environment, and it said how this is a matter for the ESB and everyone else, but the problem is that it was a matter for everyone up to now and we see the problem. We have to make sure we learn from this and we do not let it happen again. Where there are trees on the side of the road, I do not care what forestry it might be.”
“It is not a Government matter but the companies need to be whipped and the Commission for Communications Regulation should wake up, to be frank about it, because it seems to be in the dark. It should be giving them harsh penalties for the service companies are giving, because it is not acceptable in any world. It would be fine if it was a week or two but the ESB was able to cover half the country. It brought in resources and made an effort. You have to commend it. It has lessons to learn but, in fairness, it got the power back. The wires are still in trouble. One thing that worries me is we had a meeting with the ESB. You also hear this if talking to the communications crowd. There is no sense of learning that trees caused most of this problem, including, first of all, forestry.”
“If people applied for the wrong thing or filled in the wrong thing, the Department should make sure there is the opportunity to go back and guide them. I commend the Minister on helping us with the few that I brought to him. I will be straight up about that. We need to learn many lessons. I see Senator Scahill in the Gallery. Regarding phones around the country, including in his county and every county in the west, up towards Cavan, and the whole area that got hit, even though Eir is out on the road fixing things at the moment, someone needs to hold it to account. If I am supplying a service to someone as a contractor, I have to supply it. The phone companies are sending bills to people. What about the people who have an alarm around their neck and are left high and dry? That is not good enough.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. We need to learn many lessons from Storm Éowyn. We can blame and give out, but we need to be prepared for the next one and do a post mortem on what needs to be improved. In fairness, the Minister, Deputy Calleary, has been helpful whenever I have gone to him. I would say his Department has no closing date in its letters. You need flexibility for all people because they came through a terrible time. Telling someone to apply online when there is no Internet connection is stupid. I am not saying the Minister did it but the Department said that. I ask the Minister to ask his Department to be flexible with people. I know there are many applications to be gone through yet.”
“It would also help the college in Letterkenny and places like that where they will be doing the study part of this. I ask the Minister to focus on this and to deliver this for those two areas because it is crucial.”
“There are probably 200 youngsters out of the country at the moment because UCD is not fit to take the numbers who are looking for this. I understand that there is a lot of setting up to it, but the problem is, as the Minister knows in his position, that a delay of three or four months does not work in veterinary or in college because if it is not ready for September 2025, it will not start until September 2026. I know the Minister is only new in his portfolio. The Cathaoirleach Gníomhach is from this area. He represents Carlow-Kilkenny. They are looking to make sure there is provision in that area, but it would be a great development to have a veterinary college in our area, in the west of Ireland. It would help Mountbellew because there was an agricultural college there.”
“First, I want to wish the Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy Harkin, well as I did not formally do it. For a number of years, I have lobbied about veterinary colleges and I welcome the announcement where Letterkenny and Mountbellew was going to be one of them and Carlow-Kilkenny and Waterford was going to be the other. My understanding was this was going to kick off in September 2025. I have heard it could be September 2026. Can the Minister clarify what is going to happen with that and why it has been delayed?”
“Is it going to be in June or July or will it be in June or July in four and a half year's time? These are the things that need answering. Enough debating has been done about it. Everyone knows the problem. It is about the Department of Finance deciding to put the funding that is required in the budget. I would vote for it an awful lot sooner than I would decide to throw €700 million to Europe for arms or something. We need to make sure we look after our own people. There are many things in this country we need to address - homelessness, carers, a lot of stuff - and some people do not even have a house. You would swear we were printing money for other things.”
“Everyone who stands up in this House will talk about carers and all the great work they do, but at the end of the day, it is about pounds, shillings and pence. That is what keeps you going. There is no point walking into a shop and saying "I am a great person because I look after my parents". That does not get you food or help you pay rent. We should decide once and for all. I would say it is the 11th or the 12th debate in this House about carers I have been involved in. Everyone goes out the door and we move on. There will be another one in a few month's time and everyone will stand up. It is time now the Government decided it is going to do something or it is not. It is recognised under the programme for Government that something will be done, but how long is a piece of string? The programme for Government is five years.”
“I cannot for the life of me understand how the Department of Finance throws it out every time a debate of this kind is going on that it will cost us over a billion. I read in the newspaper last week or the week before that we as a country are prepared to throw €700 million to Europe out of our kitty for arms or for basically boosting Europe but we are not prepared to look after the people who are helping others in this country. As a Dáil and as a people, we should be looking at ourselves and deciding which we should put first. Should we put first, reward, help and recognise those who sacrifice their own lives by helping others and, in that way, help the State? We are not giving them the opportunity or the recognition they deserve.”
“Where a youngster wants to go to college, they could be near a college, help their loved one in the morning, come home in the middle of the day and then leave them, but just because they are going to college and because of this means test and the way it is done, they are told they do not fit the criteria because they have to be there caring for so many hours. Even though there is more than 140 or however many hours in a week, the belief is that because they are gone for the few hours, they are not entitled to this allowance. That is not the way to look after people. Second, we see day in, day out people giving up their jobs, but someone belonging to them could have a fairly good job, so under this means test they are ruled out straight away.”
“I welcome the debate and support the motion. When we hear the Department of Finance talking about it costing a certain amount if we were to get rid of the means test, if these carers decided to look at putting their loved ones into a nursing home, it would cost the State €1,100 every week. Those are the facts of it. They are actually saving the State about €800 to €900 every week. I have been in the House for ten or 11 debates on carers and everyone agrees but the problem is that nothing is changing.”
“There was a vote in Europe in the past ten days. Some Government MEPs voted in a particular way. Fianna Fáil MEPs later changed their votes and our Independent MEPs basically abstained. We need to decide where we are going when it comes to neutrality. The Government is elected by the people to represent the people. Anything that is being done in respect of neutrality needs to be put to the people in a referendum. At the end of the day, it is the people of this country that put each and every one of us here. We should respect that in the context of our neutrality. Unfortunately, Europe seems to be a hurler on the ditch when it comes to the negotiations on Ukraine that are taking place at present. Tactically, it has not manoeuvred itself properly in order to be more involved.”
“On security, last year or the year before two of our naval ships were unable to leave port for the simple reason that we did not have the manpower to allow them to do so. The first thing we need to do is ensure retention and take on more staff. The second thing we need to do is obtain proper vessels to allow us to patrol our own waters. I agree with spending money on this, but we need to separate the wood from the trees. It is one thing to protect your own country, the underwater cables located off the coast and so on. We need ensure we put money into that. However, it is totally different to talk about putting €700 million into a budget in Europe when the likes of Germany only has to put in €2 billion. Our population is 15 times smaller than that of Germany. What is proposed in this regard does not make sense.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak on this matter. On security, there are many headwinds blowing at present in respect of the Mercosur deal. Irish farmers would be unduly affected by this deal and I urge the Government to oppose it. On tariffs, while it will be Europe that will decide the number and type of products that will attract tariffs, we must remember that the 60% of, for example, distillers' grain that comes to Europe comes to Ireland. Speaking to grain importers, if this comes in, along with a tariff on maize, it will add something like €40 or €50 per tonne to the cost of meal. I urge our Ministers to bring this forward at European level in order that it will not happen. The whiskey industry and other industries are also at serious risk.”
“All Deputies are aware that if county councils have not spent their budgets towards the end of the year, they have to get rid of it or they get less money the following year. Why do we not look at value per kilometre for roads they do and give them more if they are very efficient? Those are the things we need to do under the likes of this motion.”
“Should they be allowed? Would that make things better? Should they be allowed to tender? My God, I think they should. That is how we get more efficiency around the country. Ministers cannot micro-watch or micromanage smaller projects. This is about having trust. It is about having balances and checks. That is why we are seeking an oversight body with expertise to watch the situation. We are not calling for cut after cut. We are seeking better value for money for all the different people around the country. I ask this Government to look at what we are on about. Everyone refers to America, NGOs and whatever else. We need to do an overview. Do you know what? I do not think anyone who is doing a job efficiently would have anything to worry about.”
“However, if they were doing their jobs, would we have a children's hospital going the way it is going? We need the hospital and no one is denying that, but it is an open book. Ironically enough, everyone is asking if we are having a go at civil servants when it would be a private company that would get less money if we were looking at it and things were done more efficiently. Do we not agree that every builder who is building houses should be able to tender for social housing? The fact is that if you did not build a social house in the past five years, you cannot tender for a State job. Is that the right way of doing things or should we be allowing more builders to tender? Are we saying that the people who lay thousands of kilometres of pipes with the county council in group water schemes are not fit to lay an Irish Water pipe?”
“He was building cars at the time. We had these proposals in our document of what we were on about. It is not about scrapping every NGO. The first thing we said was that those working in the health service do great work. Should anybody have a problem if they are being reviewed to see if they are getting enough money or too much money? Take the housing sector. How many housing bodies do we have in this country? The Government had to go into its arse pocket and pull out €14 million or €15 million when a housing body was getting enough money. Are we saying that everything is hunky-dory? We are saying it is not hunky-dory that there is no accountability. We need the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Department of public expenditure and reform to do their jobs. There are great civil servants and no one is criticising them.”
“I welcome the announcement in respect of Crossmolina. The Minister of State and I were there in 2015 or 2016. I am sure he will agree. He and I went down there between 2016 and 2020 and that is too long for those people to live at risk. There are stumbling blocks to getting a job done efficiently. I am sure the Minister of State will agree that is a major problem in this country when compared with other countries. Why does it cost €3,000 or €4,000 per sq. m to build an apartment in Ireland when it costs €1,000 in Spain? The apartment might not be as fancy or particular, but there is a woeful difference in that price if you are trying to get value for money. That is what we are on about. A few speakers referred to Elon Musk. He must be watching Irish television. In January 2024, which is 14 months ago, that lad had never been heard of.”
“To correct the record, we went in to meet the Taoiseach and Tánaiste and put a policy document in front of them. When we talked about trying to save the agricultural sector from a carbon tax, others decided to sign up to it. We talked about freezing it and perhaps putting it on aeroplane travel. People can decide whether to go on holidays but cannot decide whether to go to work 30 or 40 miles from where they live. Others decided they would let people suffer in that way. That was the reason we were not brought into government, just to put the record straight. Everyone in the Opposition and the Government believes that the better and more efficiently we can do something, the more services, social housing and buildings we can supply around this country for the people who need them. Those people are our constituents around the country.”
“What is the big idea then that we should not build on it because people can work from home now with the broadband which will be a help? I ask the Minister to concentrate on those few points I have mentioned. These are small tweaks within his Department, which is frustrating people at building and is blocking people from tendering, to get more efficiency. If he does that, he will free things up. It is not the big monstrous things which will solve everything but it might be the small tweaks which will help. I wish him the best of luck.”
“To be honest, some councils do not even know how to go about it. We need to promote and try to get as many houses done as efficiently as possible because with the figures I am seeing at the moment, God help anybody who is trying to buy a house in Dublin at present. It is like lotto figures, which you would have to win to afford a house in Dublin. These are people who deserve to have a home. Going forward, we need to take a completely different look at rural housing at the moment. If a person's family comes from a farm, or whatever, they should be able to build on that farm. That is having houses built. This is about an emergency now. Thankfully, the electricity came to all parts of Ireland years ago, the water is around and thankfully we have a road.”
“There could be a situation where a person is trying to do up an old house in which a chimney may have been cracked a few years earlier and where the person decided that rather than letting water down, he or she would take down the chimney and put slates over it. Such a person could not then get a planning exemption from the council because he or she had interfered with the house. If that is the type of bureaucracy that is going on in planning departments, we are going nowhere. Furthermore, as has been said earlier, the councils need to be better resourced for doing all of that type of work. Why do not we go into a system of giving smaller builders five or ten houses and getting a site done out? To be frank, as has been said earlier by Deputy Kenny, affordable housing does not exist in many counties.”
“Let no one go codding themselves about that. We need to focus on labour because we all know what went on last year. If I was a builder, building 300 or 400 houses, I would put in a commencement notice because I would get the money back. That is it and it showed in two spikes in the year you look at the chart. People then decided that we are building this amount of houses. Anybody who knows anything about building knew that it was not going to happen. Those are the two spikes which happened last year. We need to move on from that. It is all right blaming everyone but we need to decide how we are going to drive it in on and plan it. Another point is that every council in this country is different.”
“Someone within the Department needs to decide what they are doing about that. Driving forward, we need Irish Water, as has been said by several Members, to be properly funded. It needs to be properly funded with conditions of efficiency because it has become top-heavy and is like the HSE now. A long time ago I remember when Jerry Grant was there and it was a fairly efficient outfit. Since then, whatever has gone wrong, it takes 22 weeks to get a decision even to get water or sewerage. That is absolutely crazy. You should have a decision within two to four weeks as to whether water would be provided. There is either water going along the side of the road with the appropriate pressure or there is not. On top of that, Irish Water must be funded. If you do not have roads, sewerage, and water, you will not be building any houses.”
“Furthermore, on council or social housing, if someone dies and leaves a house, once for that house, it will get €11,000 from the Department to do it up. If someone came to my house this minute, the council would not take it because there would be the handle of a door or something not right. These houses have to be perfect and you will get €11,000 once. If you have to go to the full extremes of putting in electric heaters and all of that crack in a full retrofit, the housing Department will give them €25,000 to €30,000 and it could cost €80,000. The councils do not have the money. They will pick the best houses and after that, they leave the rest. People give out about the councils having 4,000 or 5,000 houses and not doing work on them. That is why; it is very simple.”
“In fairness to the former housing Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, he sent out a package each year. It was not a big amount and it was not going to do the whole country but for towns which did not have Irish Water or sewerage schemes, this was to basically fund the putting in of a sewerage scheme. To this day not one penny of this has been spent. Why? This is because the councils are to sign it over to Irish Water and back and over again. If that bureaucracy is not cut out, you can give all of the money you want in the world to housing but it will not be done because we have people at desks who are not driving the agenda on by using a bit of cop on and common sense as regards how to do it.”
“There should be two-, three- or four-bedroom houses for all different counties in order that it is standardised and no people are sending paper over and back, scratching their heads and wondering what they will do next with it. We also should be able to let smaller builders in because at the moment, if you have not done a Government job within the past three years you cannot tender, even though you might have built 100 houses out in the private sector. That is absolutely crazy. It is the same with Irish Water. A bidder could have laid 5,000 km of pipe for the councils down through the years on group water schemes but, unfortunately, you cannot lay a pipe for Irish Water or tender for it because you did not do jobs for it before. It is horrendous how we are blocking it. On top of that, let us go to sewerage.”
“I wish both the Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy Kevin Boxer Moran, the best of luck in their new portfolios. The first thing is that I think everyone is in agreement with Croí Cónaithe. It is a good thing and is getting more houses done. I think the cabin at the back of the house is a good thing. I would like if it was 200 sq. ft bigger, the same size as the modular homes, but if anything is good let us say that it is good if it all helps in the housing sector. Let us look at the facts, however, in social and affordable housing. Why do we have architects designing houses in 26 or 30 different councils when we should have a strategic type of house done?”
“For the next one to three months, be it in the context of ACRES or ordinary farm inspections, I ask him to ensure that inspections are pulled back, because people are in trouble after the hammering the west, the midlands and the north west got. The prices for cattle, milk and sheep are fairly good at the moment. It is now about trying to retain this position for the time being. I wish the Minister and the Minister of State the best of luck. I also wish the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, well. We will be crossing swords if some of these things are not delivered, but I will work with them all the way.”
“It is about highlighting the different issues that exist. Plastics are another issue. The price of rolls of plastic has gone up, as has the price for collection. We have a heap of it in the country. I worry about how we are doing with this in terms of viability, particularly in light of the way it is now. Turning to women in farming, I do not think this aspect was mentioned here yet. I am talking about speakers other than the Minister. Women in farming is an important issue. Even for us in the Dáil, unless we have someone helping us behind the scenes at home, we would be lost. They should be recognised and helped. Young farmers need to be brought into the sector as much as possible. I ask the Minister to do one thing.”
“It is great to see the number of youngsters going into agricultural colleges. If we had more land, it would be mighty. I refer to getting more land for youngsters. There is an awful pressure on land as a result of everything that is happening. I hope the Minister and the Minister of State can drive matters on. The veterinary college in Mountbellew is near the Minister of State's home area. I hear that this facility is being pushed out for another year. I hope the Minister and Minister of State can pull something back in respect of that situation. This is not the time to go kicking new Ministers or Ministers of State; they must be given a chance. I will mark their cards over the next one to four years, if, with the help of God, we are all still here. It is not the time to be rattling now.”
“The team in Portlaoise is outstanding. Be it forestry or anything else - other than organic - there seems to be a problem down in Wexford, however. Consideration needs to be given to what is going on or who is calling the shots down there. Ultimately, it is not the civil servant at the bottom but someone up at the top who needs to put the procedures in place. In forestry, a reconstitution grant was put in place down south in 2016 or 2017. However, we need to help those in forestry who are in trouble now. A heap of it has gone down on the ground. The bottom line is that it needs to be gone within a year. We need either a simple licensing system or just to get the licences out. My fear as regards licences is that there is a cohort of people who believe we should neither plant forestry nor cut it. They will object to everything.”
“He is retiring today after 40 years. While there are many problems with ACRES, he is the one person you could ring no matter whether it was day or night. After 40 years, he deserves to be respected. We should pay tribute to him for all he has done. Beyond that, the Minister is coming into an area that looks as if it was struck by a bomb. Many farmers have not been paid. The IT system is fully up and running. In fairness, when I talked to him the other night, the Minister said it was going to take a while to do it. It is going to take some teasing out. We must ensure we bring a bit of confidence back into this area. In Portlaoise, there is a heap of different schemes. No matter what new scheme comes out, the team there is always able to get farmers paid. I have always said that about the people involved.”
“While dairy may work in certain parts of the country, the likes of the land in the west and the north west, where the Minister of State, Deputy Grealish, is from, is more suited to either sheep or suckler cows. We need to make sure we keep a floor under that. The nature restoration law is also coming down the line and we have to make sure we protect farmers. Another thing coming at us are the new drainage rules on peatlands. We have to make sure we look after farmers. We have to try to get young farmers in and have a retirement scheme. It is not easy at the moment with all the bashing going on to encourage youngsters to go into farming. We must ensure that we put out a positive message in this regard. TB is a problem. We must all work together in trying to resolve it. I pay tribute to Willie in the ACRES section of the Department.”
“The media love kicking the daylights out of farming and agriculture but everyone has to know that they need three meals a day. They might cop on sooner or later and know that they should start respecting farmers, not kicking the daylights out of them. To be quite frank about it, farming is the best life you could have if you could make a good enough living out of it. There is nothing better than going out through cattle or whatever. We need to take on some allegations that were made about the pig industry. I was a young fella when we had farrowing pens. They are gone. It is a totally different set-up than when I was a young fella. We need to correct the record for the sake of the Dáil and that wrong information is not allowed to be put out about farmers. On suckler cows, we know we have lost about 250,000 of them.”
“First, I wish both Ministers well. I thank them for their engagement so far. It is only fair that they get the time to settle in. There are a lot of storms on the horizon for them and to judge them on over the next few years. I brought this first thing to their attention previously and I ask both the Ministers of State, Deputies Healy-Rae and Grealish, to get involved as well. A lot of sheds have been lost during the storm. Will the Department look at that? We are able to do replacement slats so surely we should be able to do replacement roofs. I ask them to look at that. I know issues in the line of Mercosur are on the horizon. Calf exports are being debated in Europe, as is the nitrates derogation. These are all things we will be facing over the next few months and we have to try to work together on these.”
“Will the Government bring in legislation to ensure that trees, be they on roadsides or in forestry, will be dealt with to ensure we will not again go through the torture we have seen people go through in the last few weeks?”
“I wish the Minister well in her new portfolio. She will be well aware that over the last few weeks the people of the west, the north west and the midlands have suffered fair torture with the storm. In the context of legislation relating to the Department of the environment at the moment, many contractors went to help the likes of the ESB and the councils to get trees off roads and all of that type of work. Those contractors need to do work for farmers and the hedge-cutting season is closing at the end of this month. Can the Minister's Government look at giving a two-week period now for those people who had to go there to help during the storm to allow them to help the farming community?”
“If that does not happen, it will not be done. This is not about criticising but about throwing in ideas and trying to work together. We can come in here and argue every day but what we need to do is to try to put in ideas that will work to solve this problem. I ask the Ministers to listen to the ideas I have given them and to take them on board.”
“The Department brought out a good scheme under Deputy Darragh O'Brien. The scheme was for sewage schemes in areas where there was no Irish Water infrastructure. Not one has been done in three years. Why is that? It is because it must be done to Irish Water specifications and you have to go back to the councils. It goes over and back. The Ministers' Department gave a budget for works throughout the country but not one red cent has been spent within those towns that need sewage schemes to help in providing water. I ask the Ministers to look at those few fundamental things. On top of that, an emergency should be called with regard to social and affordable housing. As has been said earlier, there are many councils that do not even know about the affordable housing schemes. They need to be brought in for a day to be told how they operate.”
“You could be building 100 private houses but still cannot tender for a public job. I ask the Ministers to look at that. There is another thing that needs to be looked at within the Department. People give out about the councils. Yes, they can be slow at times. If someone dies and the house is being done up, there is damn all funding from the Department. If you are to bring the house up to the specifications introduced by the former Minister, Eamon Ryan, it will cost €60,000 to €80,000. What does the Department provide? It is €25,000 to €30,000. Do councils have money? No. Everyone is wondering why there are 3,000 to 4,000 houses that are lying idle and have not been done up, as was said earlier. It is because councils do not have the funding. There is another thing the Ministers can do.”
“It is helping a lot of people. However, there are inconsistencies between councils. I will give an example. I know a person whose chimney was cracked in their old two-storey house. They took it down and put up slates. They then could not get an exemption because they had taken down the chimney. What madness is going on in the planning sections of councils? I ask the Ministers to address that. As the Ministers know well, in building houses, sewage and water are ferociously important. I will ask the Ministers to do one thing. I have brought this up a number of times. If a builder is building 100 houses in the private sector but has not done a State job in the last three years, they cannot tender. That is total madness within the Department from whoever wrote that rule.”
“I wish the three Ministers well in their new portfolios. I welcome this morning's announcement on modular homes and log cabins but there is one thing I cannot fathom. I hear it is 40 sq. m. The modular homes being built at the moment are 600 sq. ft, which is 60 sq. m. I do not know why it is 20 sq. m less but I still welcome it because it is going to help people. Let us give praise when praise is due. The planning situation needs to be tackled. An emergency should be called because objections are holding up many planning permissions. I ask the Minister to look at that. I also ask him to look at one-off housing because councils are so inconsistent. I was talking to a person in Sligo this morning and apparently Sligo is nearly a no-go area. I have also been talking to people in Leitrim and other counties. I welcome the croí cónaithe scheme.”
“I am saying very clearly to the Minister, in the context of rural Ireland, a lot of Ministers might not understand what went on but he is from the west and saw the destruction that happened. I am asking him on the line of the sheds that have been decimated - their roofs not their walls - that he please talk to someone to put a fund in place for that. TAMS will take too long. The summer will be landed and winter will be coming again and it will not be resolved. I ask the Minister to try to resolve that and the other issues I have mentioned here.”
“While I know there was some laid on, I ask him to look at that for those people because we need to learn from every little piece of what went wrong to try to rectify it. In the line of the ESB, yes, investment needs to be done. Poles are broken in places but they had a damn good reason to break because it was big lumps of forestry trees that came down on them. Another thing that needs to be addressed, both in State and private forestry, is trees that came down on an adjacent farmer's field blowing the fences out of it. I ask the Government to look - it only has a week or two left - at the contractors who went in helping out right around the west and who had other work to do in the line of hedge cutting. I ask the Government to look at that.”
“That is the big thing that has been taken away. Those farmers need help in that. We need legislation shortly and I ask the Minister to ensure that in whatever legislation there is, there will not be some do-gooder saying that these trees are too close to the wires. I ask for that to be addressed. I am saying - and I am the first to say it - that we would sow two down the field but do not let anyone come along in a suit telling someone he or she cannot cut this after spending three weeks without electricity. This has to stop. The madness going on right across the country has to stop. A lot of people hired petrol generators and had to pay extra for food when trying to get food in places.”