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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“If this storm has taught us one thing, it is that the ash dieback situation in this country for the last number of years has not been dealt with. A lot of those trees brought down power lines. We discussed the Sitka spruce as regards our forests being flattened, but we must not forget all the ash trees that are still on the ground. Some of them that are not on the ground at the moment, because they have yet to suffer with ash dieback, will come down in future storms. The ESB stated that the repair costs will be passed on to the consumer. We cannot accept that in this House or the Lower House, given the profits the ESB has shown for the last number of years. It has to bear that cost. It has to put in a service where it looks after its own lines.”
“I compliment all the small shopkeepers, community centres and local businesses that gave credit to people who wished to purchase food when this crisis happened and the card machines went down. People are so dependent on card machines. Our local shopkeepers and businesses took out a little book and wrote in credit notes for people whereby they could purchase food. That has to be recognised. Not only did they give water, but they also gave food and credit to people, unlike some of our bigger stores which would not give people food unless they had cash in their pockets. This is the point I am making. I want to compliment our small business for what they have done. As others have said, we need to have a working area over and around ESB lines and our broadband network where we do not have trees.”
“One is the fact the skin test is not accurate. Is the blood test accurate? Can we see the figures from the Department about how many animals have gone down with TB lesions in the factories? Could this information be given to the public? This is information the public needs to understand. How many animals have been tested and have gone down that have not shown lesions? Furthermore, the bovine classification encompasses deer as well. A deer is a bovine. We are testing farmed deer in this country. What percentage of our wild deer carry TB? Have we got results and figures on that? Could we get them presented to the House?”
“We are talking about fencing badger sets and not letting the badgers out to mix with bovines. We need to bring all sectors together to collaborate on testing. If we could vaccinate people during Covid, how come we cannot vaccinate the national herd against TB? It is ridiculous when one thinks about it. Millions upon millions have been spent on TB. At this moment in time, the price of a reactor is €2.86 per kg. The price of that animal in the mart is €6.50 per kg, so the farmer is not getting paid market value for the animal that goes down. I ask that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine raises the value of the reactor to the market value at least in the short term. This would help alleviate some of the stress, pain and anxiety this has caused throughout the national herd. There are certain areas we certainly need to address.”
“I wish to raise the issue of TB testing and TB sector in Ireland. At this moment in time, 6.2% of the national herd is closed due to TB. If we define this 6.2%, it is late testing in animals and cows brought in that had not been tested in a 60-day period. They are part of the 6.2%. Skin testing is usual way of testing animals. However, when an animal goes down following a skin test, the Department carries out a blood test on this animal. Does that give us a clear indication that the skin test is accurate? Many of the animals that go down after the skin test have been proved not to have TB. We have been testing animals for 58 or 59 years. We have not got to the bottom of the whole sector. It is a bottomless pit where we are throwing good money after bad.”
“If sports and other clubs throughout the country only do one thing this week, I urge them to check all defibrillators to ensure they are in working order. Doing so might help save someone's life. Telephone lines in various localities have been damaged. Older people have pendants they depend on if something happens - for example, if they fall or whatever. Some 4,000 homes in the west of Ireland have had their telephones cut off. Elderly people are dependent on their telephones in cases of emergency where they have a fall or need to call a doctor. I urge Éir and the other communication companies to provide an update on when they expect services to resume. It cannot be the end of March or the beginning of April. That would be unacceptable.”
“I raise an issue that has affected my local community. Sadly, a young gentleman was out for a run with his wife and had a cardiac arrest. In every area we have defibrillators which are there to give a sense of security to the people who know that they are there. Unfortunately, on this occasion, there was a defibrillator that was out of date when it was called for. The pads were out of date. These defibrillators are installed all over Ireland. I urge people in their localities to have a look at the dates and the pads on these. We have trained people throughout our communities but unfortunately if the defibrillators have not been checked on a regular basis - weekly - then the product itself is no good.”
“With the new legislation, the cost of harvesting and selling this will only pay for the cost of replanting the land that has been destroyed. I therefore ask that the Minister and the powers that be attend a task force on where we are going to go with all the forestry that is on the ground, what its carbon footprint is, what damage has been done and how we can compensate these companies and farmers.”
“I congratulate our colleague, Senator Kyne. I speak today on the great damage done to forestry throughout Ireland by the storm. We have now come to a crisis situation where many of these forests will have to be removed and harvested. Unfortunately, every forest needs a licence. In the years gone by, we have seen that it takes up to two and half years to get a licence to remove a forest. I hope and ask that this House would seek that the Minister with responsibility would fast-track these licences and that the forestry companies would try to give a fair price to the people who own these forests. Many of them are owned by individuals who have undertaken it for their own investment. Now we have an investment on the ground that is close to worthless.”
“I look forward to working with the 11 other Members who were elected on the agricultural panel to do what we said we would do, and to represent the agricultural sector in all its forms. I hope Deputy Martin Heydon will be a strong voice as Minister for agriculture. He has listened in the past and I know he will be listening to our concerns going forward. The backbone of our country is agriculture. When we ran into a recession in the past, it was the agricultural sector that took us out of it and we must not forget that. I look forward to working with everybody in the House and wearing the green jersey for the betterment of the country.”
“I will not be found wanting when it comes to that. I stand here as a proud farmer. A number of years ago, I was outside the gates of Leinster House trying to get the people inside the gates to listen to farmers and our needs. Now, I am delighted to be inside the gates to represent that community. I thank the Clerk, Martin Groves, and his team for the hospitality and the service they have shown since I have come here. It is very important that we protect our food and protect our imports and exports. Without protection and knowledge regarding our food sources and looking after rural farmers and small farmers, we will run into dangerous times. There is the Mercosur deal coming in from Europe and there are several other policies and documents that will come in front of us. I look forward to this challenge.”
“I congratulate the Cathaoirleach on his election. It is not my first time to speak in this Chamber as I was invited here by the Cathaoirleach when I was with the AILG to represent the council and the local elected members. I thank my family, my friends and my supporters for the last 11 years. I thank Longford County Council and all the staff within that council for making it possible for me to be here today. I thank all of the elected members - the councillors - for an easy campaign and for their courtesy when I visited them during the campaign. I would like to say something that we have instilled in Longford in recent years. When we come into a chamber, we say that we will put on the blue and gold. I think that, in this House, we should put on the green jersey and we should work for the betterment of our country.”