Paraic Brady
Agricultural Panel · Fine Gael · Ireland
“I wish to discuss a case that is ongoing all over social media where animals were euthanised on a farm in Roscommon and in County Clare last week. Forget about the rights and wrongs or who is right and who is wrong. The manner in which the animals were euthanised is where I see a problem.”
“It is probably the first time I can say all the work is done before we actually go home. With the weather, the turf is home, the hay is done the silage is made and the feet are up. We are surely going to enjoy the summer. I wish all the teams in the hurling and football the very best.”
“I welcome the Minister. I, too, support the countermotion. My colleagues have raised a number of issues but I would like to touch on the GAA's demographics report. It is about how we support those clubs in the countryside that are finding it hard to get players and the population to stay in that area.”
“He is working the land, but he also maybe has another job block-laying or whatever he is at locally. However, his family is reared there. He is buying his groceries in the local shop. He is spending all the money locally. He is probably doing a small bit of farming, drainage and whatever else. Everything is local.”
“I rise to address a concern that Councillor Michael Boyle raised yesterday in respect of Donegal. I compliment him on raising what will be a huge concern all over Ireland. It is that Irish Water has sent out notification that it intends to switch off water.”
“They can live without grass for a certain amount of time but we cannot switch water off for animals in this sort of weather. In this day and age, I cannot understand how Irish Water cannot provide a service. There are water-harvesting systems all over the world.”
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“We need to speed up this process and try to get these people onto the roads in a safe and due manner - these and everybody else. I thank the Minister of State for his time.”
“Another girl is a teacher in a school in Newtown Forbes and her parents have to drive from Abbeylara to Newtown Forbes every day, down and back, and pick her up. It is unacceptable that we have people working in the HSE who have not got their driver's licence. We need to prioritise people in these sectors. Teachers, fire services personnel and those working in the HSE have to get priority over everybody else because they work in a sector that is in need of them. I just hope we can get a handle on this. I agree with the sentiments expressed by everyone else here. If somebody is fit to teach somebody, they should also be fit to instruct on whether they have passed or whether they have failed. Perhaps we need to take some driving instructors from several other counties and move them to a different county where instructors are needed.”
“I welcome the Minister of State. I will not rehash everything everybody has said. I agree with it. I will just say one thing to the Minister of State. It is coming to the stage now where young people will not actually wait to get their driving test. Perhaps they have secured employment and the mother and father are no longer fit to bring these people to work at 7.30 or eight o'clock in the morning, so now we see young people actually going to work without having done their driving test. We are actually forcing our youths onto the roads without a full driver's licence because the system has failed. We have had several cases in Longford disclosed in the past week. We have a young fella who is after getting into the fire services. He was told that if he does not have a full licence, he does not pick up the job.”
“Before any decisions are made on this on this TB forum, I call on the Minister and departmental officials to come in and meet the agriculture committee that has been set up. That is what we are actually elected to do: to represent farming communities and listen to the people on the ground. It took 70 years and this mess is still going on. We now want to solve it overnight by just bringing in rules and regulations and blaming the farmer again. The badger has more biodiversity than the people actually producing food. I find that very hurtful to my community and the farming community. At the bottom of it, there is not one word about a task force that actually helps farmers deal with the loss of all these animals. There is something seriously wrong here and it needs to be dealt with by the task force.”
“I find myself raising something I raised here last week. We had a TB task force last week involving farming organisations, the Department of agriculture and the Minister. At the task force there were nine hours of discussions. No. 2 on the list was to promote badger biodiversity. No. 5 on the list was mandatory disclosure of TB herds categorisation. For anyone who does not understand this, categorisation means actually labelling a farmer in a mart where his animals are being sold. It means putting something up on a board that completely discriminates against that man, his livestock and his herd. With that up on the board, nobody would want to buy an animal that has come from a restricted herd in the past. Then we are talking about having a gap of at least a two years and six months before we have a clear test for the livestock unit.”
“We have introduced a programme that has not worked. I hope that, after tomorrow, we can go back to what has worked in the past. At present, we are asking farmers to put cattle in twice yearly for testing. This is a huge burden when animals have to be transported large distances, put in sheds, tested on Tuesday, the results read on Friday and then let back out to grass during the summer time and the winter time. The cost of this in terms of labour is a massive burden on farmers. I hope the summit meeting tomorrow will realise this. Tomorrow, we hope that answers will be provided for farmers.”
“I raise once again the issue of the cost of bovine TB to the beef and dairy sectors and to general agriculture throughout Ireland. Bovine TB costs Irish farmers in excess of €150 million, according to a new report. I welcome the emergency TB summit meeting which the Minster, Deputy Martin Heydon, has called for. He intends to meet representatives from all the farming organisations to try to resolve this or come to some recognition that the cost of bovine TB to the sector is out of control. In trying to get this under control, we have introduced a vaccination programme for badgers in recent years that has not worked. Rates of bovine TB have risen in the sector throughout Ireland. At this moment, there are outbreaks in most counties. As I have said before, we are not only blaming the badgers because deer can also carry the disease.”
“I hope some of my colleagues will speak about the ESB and maintaining power lines. I thank the Minister of State for his time and look forward to his response.”
“Farmers would not panic because their timber could stay in the forest because it will be paid on the harvest head of the forestry. This is very important and people might not get this. If farmers are paid on the head of the harvester they will not panic and the timber will stay in the forest. This is something I came up with. A perfect example of permanent deals is the fact Coillte, a semi-State body, sells timber by volume, not weight, whereas a private owner sells timber by weight only. This means any delay in the movement of timber from woodland to the sawmill will incur a financial loss to a private owner. Before I finish, in regard to the ash dieback problem, the question of whether there will be a compensation package for local authorities to deal with some of the ash dieback along roads has not been clarified with them.”
“I am sure as a result of the Minister of State's dialogue with the mills they will hold the price of timber to a moderate value and that it will not decrease. The method for calculating the purchase price of timber all over Europe is by weight. Timber loses approximately 5% on the forestry floor on a monthly basis. Every other mill in Europe purchases timber by volume. After timber is purchased by a mill, by weight, it is sold by volume at the other end. If one harvests timber in Europe the weight of timber goes on the head of the harvester so everybody knows the value of the timber as it is cut by the harvester. In this country, timber is paid per weight on the way into the mills. Clarification on this matter would alleviate the issue.”
“If, for example, there is 20% windblow damage on a mature forest will the farmer receive a full package of replanting? Will somebody who has a planting that is 15 years old with 30% windblow, all of which has to be removed, get the full package? Will there be percentages in the reconstruction scheme relating to the number of years the planting has already grown? That is important because some plantings have not matured but are out of the scheme and will be cleared. Other plantings have a higher monetary value and can go for sawlog and so on. Most farmers will pay higher percentages on sawlog. Will the scheme balance out that growth year on year? The biggest bugbear is that the mills in this country control the price of timber.”
“If it is standing, it is growing in value every day of the week. The task force needs to provide clear information. We have drone footage from all over Ireland and know every forest that is standing at this moment in time, as well as forests with windblow. If a forest is standing and has a licence, there is no need to cut it down because it is growing in value day by day. We need to deal with what is on the ground first before we start taking down stuff that does not have windblow. I refer to the Minister of State's commitment to the reconstruction scheme. He may not be able to answer this question today but does that refer to replanting for stuff that has windblow for a period of up to 15 or 20 years? Will it deal with all affected planting, including mature areas with windblow? Is there a percentage involved?”
“This means planting 8,000 ha per year. We are currently struggling to plant 2,000 ha per year. We need clarification on peaty rich and mineral rich soils. The new CAP reform from Europe states that those with peaty rich land will not be allowed to plant. As we know, a lot of regions I have mentioned have peaty rich soil. It has grown timber very successfully in the past. Trees such as Sitka spruce have been grown in the soil. There is no reason why such trees cannot grow again. We need a package to be put in place in order that the soil can be replanted. If there is a thinning licence at this point in time, does that mean the land can be clear-felled? I need that question answered. Any standing timber under a clear-fell licence should not need to be cut at this moment in time, and I urge the Minister of State to address that point.”
“Most of the affected areas are Sligo, Leitrim, my county of Longford, Cavan, north Meath, Roscommon and Galway because they are areas of marginal land. That is why they were planted over the past number of years. Unfortunately, we have seen the effect of that decision with the windblow. Some 26,000 ha of land have windblow. I stand to be corrected but I believe there are about 2.4 or 2.5 years' worth of forest on that ground. I have grave concerns. Our sawmills are capable of dealing with this and I agree with the Minister of State that the best place for our timber at this moment in time is on the ground. Unfortunately, farmers are panicking because they feel they are losing a percentage of the timber by weight. Ireland has 11% forestry cover at the moment. The national target is to reach 18% by 2050.”
“The only way it can grow is by putting money in place to make sure it is viable for people to see a profit by the end of the year, whether a pension scheme, privately owned business or whatever else. Let us be very clear in this House. Everybody is talking about climate change, our targets and what we have to meet. Our carbon credits are valuable, not only to the State but to farmers. If farmers are compensated for carbon credits, then and only then will we meet our targets. Let us be quite clear on that. If we compensate a farmer in the correct manner for soaking up our carbon credits for us, then and only then will people invest in our forests. That will create jobs and everything else. There are 22,000 private forest owners in this country. Approximately 1,800 are affected by windblow at this point in time.”
“In terms of afforestation rates over the past three years, 1,652 ha were planted in 2023, which is a decline. Some 1,573 ha were planted in 2024. As of this year, 691 ha have been planted. This sends out a message that what is happening at this moment in time is not working. People are fearful of planting trees. The Minister of State understands where this fear comes from. When trees are planted in rural areas, communities are decimated. The small shop and school are decimated. There was a campaign in Leitrim a number of years ago, Save Leitrim, and there were objections to planting in Leitrim because of the marginal land that it is. Unfortunately, that became the norm and spread throughout the whole of Ireland. This is a sector that needs to grow.”
“The Minister of State is very welcome to the House. I am delighted to see him as Minister of State in charge of the sector at this moment in time. Coming from a rural area, he understands at first hand the suffering and pain the recent storm caused to rural communities, private landowners and forestry in general. I compliment him on meeting people in County Cork recently and engaging with a number of stakeholders in the forestry sector. I believe he has engaged with many personally, on which I compliment him. I am sure everybody is aware of the following facts. As of 2022, an estimated 800,000 ha, or 11.6% of Ireland, was covered in forestry, compared to an average of 39% in Europe. Almost half of our forestry is in public ownership, mainly Coillte. Nearly one-third is made up of broadleaf, according to statistics from the Department.”
“There were eight areas of non-compliance. This is very damning and it is hurtful to see patients are not receiving the same care and attention that was there previously. I am asking for a root-and-branch investigation into the full report. I also ask that the service be returned to the standard it was at a number of years ago. It is going to take a little investment and a lot of pain to the people who are there and the families and staff in order to get it back to the previous standard. The report is damning, probably one of the worst that has ever been compiled. I hope this matter will be resolved sooner rather than later.”
“I want to raise an issue that is very local and very personal not only to myself but to the people of Longford. St. Joseph’s Daycare Centre has just received its HIQA report. It is a damning report of how the service has been run into the ground. Our local councillor Peggy Nolan and other councillors in the area have highlighted this matter at local level. We lost our cathedral some years ago when it burned to the ground. It was rebuilt from the ashes. People call it the phoenix. This is our daycare centre, where the most vulnerable people in society and our elderly have been looked after for some years. There is great pride in this service in Longford. It has a huge facility and has been wonderful for people down through the years. The report was compiled. It was an anonymous call-in by HIQA to see how the service was being run.”
“If there is a spot in a river, for example, with the type of peatland that has caused the creation of banks in the River Shannon and if something needs to be removed, then it needs to be removed. If a blockage is leading to the flooding of both homes and areas in general, then we need to be smart and remove it. I am glad to see the Minister of State back in this portfolio. In the past, he has been hands-on. He delivered previously and I know he will deliver in the future. I thank him again for his time here.”
“This has led to homes in the area being flooded. Which is more important, a crayfish or a family home? We have to get smart when it comes to this whole thing. On draining of the River Shannon, let us call a spade a spade. The Environmental Protection Agency, the ESB, Waterways Ireland, Inland Fisheries Ireland, Fáilte Ireland and An Taisce are involved. Who is really involved? The reality is that the Minister of State is in charge. The buck stops with the Minister of State. These bodies have to understand that the Minister of State is in charge, that the funding comes from his Department and that they must listen to him. They must listen for the betterment of all.”
“Half of them ended up in rivers and gave rise to the creation dams. We have to think smart about this matter if we are going to move forward. We have to give the power back to either the farmer, through ACRES, TAMS or something else. In other words, where there is a river on a farmer's land, he or she must maintain it and the hedgerow running alongside. It is either that or we give responsibility to the local authorities and fund them accordingly. Further back, there was one case in County Longford, in the village of Ballinalee, where farmers used to come on a yearly basis and remove gravel from a certain part of the local river. It was a silty gravel and they used it to maintain the roadways through their lands. All of a sudden, crayfish were found in the river and the farmers were told they were no longer allowed to remove the gravel.”
“The rivers to which I refer are all tributaries that run into the River Shannon at some point or other. We must put the scheme back in place and we must give the power back to the councillors who were elected by the people and who know where the problems lie. Will the Minister of State put money into our local authorities? Will he invest it in areas where people had the foresight to know how a river needs to be maintained? Every river has to meander; everybody knows this. Somebody might say that we have to get in and clean rivers out, but we do not have to do so. We do, however, have to maintain rivers. It is very simple. When ACRES was first introduced, it shut farmers off from letting cattle drink from rivers. Then farmers were advised to go and plant hedges along rivers. There was no maintenance of these hedges.”
“The three local authorities that operated it looked after and maintained the Rinn River, the Black River and numerous other rivers. The group scheme was driven by the three local authorities in conjunction with the local councillors or farmers involved with the scheme. They verified the areas that were blocked as a result of fallen trees, silt banks or whatever. They knew where the problems were. That scheme was disbanded 12 years ago. Since then, we have had nothing but problems in the area the whole way from the Cavan border to Leitrim and on to Longford. It is very simple: we have maintained roads but we need to maintain rivers. When a tree blocks a river, silt builds up. This causes the formation of a dam, which gives rise to flooding upstream. It is very simple.”
“Happy birthday to the Minster of State, Deputy Moran, or Boxer as he is known in Westmeath. I said when he was elected first that I was delighted to see the Boxer back. I really am delighted to see him back because the people of Athlone will always remember him as the man who put himself in a boat and took families out of flooded areas and houses. Unfortunately, when they went to vote the following year, they forgot about him. They did not forget about him this time. I am glad to see that because the Minister of State was hands-on at the time. He was the only one out there with the people. That is what counts. I would now like to address a couple of matters. As the Minister of State is well aware, there was a scheme in Longford, Westmeath, Cavan and Leitrim called the Rinn and Blackwater scheme.”
“FMD is the most contagious disease at this moment in time in the livestock industry. Is every avenue being followed to protect our industry?”
“I raise an alarming issue. We had another case of foot and mouth disease, FMD, in Hungary on 6 April. As everybody knows, the sector in Ireland has exported 100,000 cattle this year. The industry has grown and grown and beef is now at €8.40 per kilogram. We have tourists visiting Hungary, Slovenia and places like that. Have we the right measures in place to protect our industry when they come back? Have they been in contact with livestock? Have we disinfection areas at our ports and airports? Have we departmental officials searching bags for meat or content coming into this country? This is serious. If it starts spreading over Europe, we will wipe out an industry that took so long to get off the ground. Diseases do not respect borders and I am very fearful of that.”
“We have seen an increase in the number of gardaí on the streets of Dublin and other cities but we must not forget that the rural people of Ireland expect a service and need to be protected too. I hope that will be addressed sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, a local publican, Tom Cassidy, who served the community for 18 years retired last Sunday. Tom has been a great servant to the community in Drumlish and Ballinamuck for many years. We ran charity events and raised funds and he made his premises available free of charge to the local community for fundraisers. He supported our community for a number of years. I hope this is not a trend that is coming whereby we lose gardaí, post offices, credit unions and local pubs. I hope some of this can be addressed.”
“I wish to raise a number of issues affecting my local village of Drumlish and Ballinamuck. The credit union in Ballinamuck closed a little less than six months ago and it is now being raised that our local credit union in Drumlish is due to close in the coming months. We have also received notification that our local post office is in danger of closing and is under review. Our two local gardaí, Donal Madden and Justin Browne - I have permission to name them - who have given significant service to the community, have now retired. This leaves us with one garda to maintain a huge rural area in north Longford. I urge the Minister for Justice to come to this House to address the concerns about the lack of numbers of gardaí in rural stations.”
“If we have learned anything, it must be that people must be capable of doing their jobs. When a passport is sent in and acquired, a chip goes into every animal. There is a vet's certificate for that chip and a marking up code that states all the animal's markings. It is unacceptable people must wait for seven to nine months in some cases for these to be issued. It is a growing concern that is coming up locally and nationally and it needs to be addressed by our Minister.”
“I raise an issue of great concern for a sport I am heavily involved in, that is, the horse racing industry, the Irish draught horse and horse sport in general. Passports are an identification. Every equine animal must have a chip, a passport and some sort of identification for export for the racing industry or people in general to know exactly where that animal was brought and reared. There is a huge delay in the issuing of passports to the Irish draught horse foals association. We have horses and foals that last year went for sale without passports. When they were sold at registered sales, the passports were to be sent to the relevant buyers. I was one of those buyers. This is unacceptable in the industry. We are all aware of the horsemeat scandal that affected our beef industry in the past and this is not acceptable in today's market.”
“The N4 runs from Mullingar to Longford. It goes from a dual carriageway to a single lane, which has created huge concerns and caused accidents over the past number of years. I welcome the funding for the bypass of Mullingar. I hope that will continue and be progressed in the future.”
“I spoke about this previously, but it seems we are getting very slow at implementing change. We need to bring processors, harvesters, Coillte and the organised bodies together to have a task force in place where we can manage the harvesting of all this forestry that is on the ground. It is losing value day on day, pensions are being lost out of this and farmers are getting very annoyed with the slow rate of knowing who they should go to, where the advice is and how they should deal with the windblow. I ask for an action plan to be put in place, with Teagasc, the IFA and the farming organisations on board, to try to get some progress regarding the harvesting of these plantations.”
“I raise the matter of our forestry that has been damaged in the recent storm, which amounts to 5,000 ha on the ground. It seems we have not learned from our mistakes. In this situation, local enough to where I live in County Longford and at the border with Coole, County Westmeath, more forests are being planted to the very edge of a road. These are currently mounded in a peaty soil right to the edge of the road. Will the Minister of State in charge, Deputy Healy-Rae, come to the Chamber to address the current problems? We are harvesting plantations with licences that are standing and are leaving plantations that have windfall on the ground. There is currently two years' worth of forestry on the ground, which is losing value day on day and has a carbon footprint that everybody knows is negative. I ask for an action plan to be put in place.”
“Ireland has the best ecological system in the world to produce a product that is sought after and that we export much of. Why not encourage farmers in this country to do what we are good at, which is to produce food, feed the growing population of the world and try to sell our product? Our product has never been more expensive than at this time because it is so sought after. I thank the Minister for his time.”
“Farmers have bought into ACRES; we are oversubscribed for that scheme. Farmers are best-placed to know how their land works. They have a growing knowledge, which has been handed down from generation to generation. They have bought into the schemes. We know how farmers work; they do what they do best, which is to farm and produce food, such as vegetables, beef and milk. To farm at this moment in time when we have all these schemes, a person would want to be an accountant and have a degree in bookkeeping as well as in filling out forms. The whole sector is now top-heavy in paperwork. Unless you have a farm adviser or are paying somebody, these schemes are mind boggling to say the least. What I am asking for is that in the new scheme, we have simplification and let farmers go back to what they do best, that is, to produce food.”
“I congratulate him on that but it is something that needs to be rectified going into the future. Environmental climate training, eco schemes and the EU LIFE programme are a few of the initiatives under way. We have the climate scheme, ACRES, the areas of natural constraint, ANC, payment; the knowledge transfer programme; the national dairy beef welfare scheme, as the Minister mentioned; the protein aid scheme; sheep welfare measures and suckler carbon efficiency measures. These are all parts of CAP. On farm viability, there is the basic income support for sustainability scheme, BISS, and the complementary redistributive income support for sustainability, CRISS. We have the young farmer capital investment scheme, YFCIS, which is on the TAMS end of it. The whole thing is broken down into bits of schemes where there should be simplification.”
“I am sharing two minutes with Senator Duffy. Ireland’s CAP strategic plan, CSP, for 2023 to 2027, underpins the sustainable development of Ireland's farming and food sector. Food production is a must to feed a growing population. Ireland has the best ecological system to produce a green, grass-fed beef, lamb, dairy and vegetable sector. It goes without saying that our product is sought all over globally. Regarding the CAP itself, I am glad the Minister mentioned simplification. I will go through it for those who do not understand the CAP system. With the green agenda, people have signed into ACRES. We have seen late payments on that scheme to date although many farmers depend on the payments system. The Minister has addressed that and we are in the process of bringing that number below 10,000.”
“The Minister, Deputy Heydon, is very welcome to the Seanad Chamber. I compliment him on his Ministry thus far as since taking over, he has dealt with some issues in a very quick and astute manner-----”
“There is a shortfall of about ten loads in a week because we are in the middle of peak season. If this continues in the middle of the season we are in, we are going to end up with a serious welfare issue in this country, with exporters holding weanlings for an extra month in their lairage. This is going to affect marts, with farmers not getting paid for their stock because exporters depend on this trade to get their livestock out to feedlots abroad to get paid for them. I am asking for an intervention by the Minister for agriculture, along with the ferries, to see if something can be done to alleviate this problem. There is huge concern as we have 2,500 cattle in lairage throughout Ireland that need to be exported out of the country.”
“I wish to address an issue that has come to my attention regarding the Stena Line route being suspended from Rosslare to Cherbourg. As everybody knows, cattle prices in Ireland are now at a level they should have been at for the past ten years and we have seen live exports rise about 70%. We are now in the middle of calving season, where we depend on our exports to cater for the weanling trade as well as the calf trade into Spain and France. Irish Ferries now only travels on a Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The Stena Line route, as I say, has been suspended. Irish Ferries has put on an extra date, which is on a Saturday. It is catering for ten loads on a Tuesday, 18 livestock lorries on a Thursday, nine on a Friday, and eight maximum on a Saturday.”
“They could downsize and somebody on the social housing list might be able to move into their home. That could be looked at. They could access services in a retirement village and they would be close to a population centre, the shops, the church, the doctor and to those who call into them. If we are intent on looking after the elderly, it is incumbent on us to ensure all large planning applications include small retirement villages. If we are building 90 or 100 homes in a town, we must include ten affordable houses for our elderly.”
“Men’s and women's sheds, senior citizen clubs and social clubs are the backbone of what makes our elderly tick. We need to fund these and give them the rights supports, and I do not mean small amounts of funding where they have to go to a local authority to look for €1,000 to bring senior citizens on bus trips and tours. I mean serious funding needs to be given to these groups so they can support communities. I like the initiative somebody mentioned in regard to our students. Students are very important too. There could be an initiative where transition year students call into elderly people on a weekly basis as part of a health and well-being programme. That is something we should look in our schools. It would a good initiative. I refer to a retirement village model to which elderly people could move.”
“I thank the Minister of State for being here today. As some of my colleagues said, he has delivered in some of his past roles. I thank him for all his work in the past and for engaging with elected representatives across Ireland. We welcome the increase for meals on wheels in the programme for Government. After the last storm and what we have seen, it is incumbent on us to make sure meals on wheels services have heater boxes and facilities where they can deliver hot meals to our elderly. That must be throughout Ireland. The hot meal boxes are available in some counties and not in others. These are a necessity for meals on wheels. We must invest in hot meal boxes. As we know, our population is living longer. I commend Senator Rabbitte on what she discussed regarding age-friendly activities.”
“I am calling for an increase in the fines to a minimum of €10,000 - yes, Members heard what I said. If these people are not prepared to pay this, then it should be taken at source from whatever they own. This is the reality. Unless we get tough on this, it will continue throughout the whole of Ireland. Some might laugh at that. However, people are fly-tipping recyclable tyres, recyclable plastic and household waste. It is unacceptable in this day and age, with all of the companies out there providing a service by lifting bins and so on. It is a big issue that needs to be addressed in this House. We need to give the local authorities the powers to address this. We need to start as we mean to go on by increasing the fines, and if people do not pay them, they will get jail. We need to stand up and be counted on this.”
“I thank the Cathaoirleach. I would like to discuss the issue of fly-tipping in local bogs and amenity areas. It has become a huge issue, not only in the county of Longford, but throughout Ireland. People are making huge amounts of money by lifting household and building site rubbish and fly-tipping it. This comes at a great cost to our local authorities. I call for a discussion on this issue and for greater powers to be given to local authorities with regard to cameras at black spots and other areas that are known to be subject to fly-tipping. The rules are that, if someone is caught fly-tipping, he or she gets a slap on the wrist and a €250 fine the first time and a €1,500 fine the second time. However, these rules are not working. We need to be serious about this if we intend to protect our environment, bogs and walkways.”
“What I am saying is that we will get away with this because it has happened once. If this happens again and we see power outages for 14 or 15 days, people in the country will not and cannot accept it. We must learn and move on from this mistake. We must put steps in place so that it does not and should not happen again that the ESB is out for 14 or 15 days. As people have said in this Chamber, generators had to be brought in to keep up air mattresses for people who had bed sores and everything else. All I hope is that when people are getting generators, they are qualified to use them, and we do not put generators in houses that could result in carbon monoxide poisoning. A little bit of training and a little bit of thought needs to be put into this before we start handing out generators throughout the country willy-nilly.”
“People have saved up over the last number of years by putting a bit of chicken, pork or fish in the fridge that they can take out to feed their families. There is a huge burden on them. I compliment the Minister for agriculture for making the TAMS grant available to all farmers, not only the dairy sector. There is a huge cost to the dairy sector in this, however. Farmers who were not able to milk cows and had to hire in generators, or who were not able to cool their tanks and had to dump the milk into septic tanks or slurry pits, did not get paid for it. There has been a huge cost to people in rural communities out of their own pockets all because of negligence in the ESB's service where we have not maintained or put enough into the infrastructure. It is not a name and blame game.”
“We need to have a database of what is available in every county - digger drivers, fellas that are qualified with chainsaws or farm relief, etc. - so that when something like this happens again in the future, we have a database of where to go, who is available and who is there to help. That is very important. There was a loss of food in the storm. People saved up food and put it in fridges and freezers over the last number of years for a holy communion, for Christmas or for something else. Now, all of a sudden, all the food in those freezers has been dumped and gone to waste. Families are wondering who is going to compensate them for this and who is going to pay the burden. How are they going to restock all this?”
“Where there is shrubbery or trees growing within a certain area that will take down these lines, it must bear the cost of removing them and managing its own power lines. We have asked farmers in ACRES to preserve the environment and everything else. The farmers in our local area came out and cleared roads for our local county council in local areas. I want to compliment our farming community because without them older people and others would not have been able to travel on our roads. In County Longford we have vast areas of forestry that have been flattened and roads closed. Our county council services - the workers on the ground - would not have gotten this cleared. A task force needs to be set up first of all.”