Paul Daly
Agricultural Panel · Fianna Fáil · Ireland
“I am a converted EV driver – I will receive my third electric vehicle on Friday. I charge at home and I have solar panels but I have done a night rate deal with the ESB whereby between the hours of 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. I can get electricity at 10 cent a unit.”
“At the outset I would like to be associated with the words of the Deputy Leader on the passing of David Andrews. I want to extend my personal sympathies to our colleague, Barry Andrews MEP, his nephew, Chris, our colleague here in the Seanad, and the extended Andrews family.”
“It is way more expensive to go to a fast charger than it is to fill up with diesel or petrol. We need the Minister in here. We need to discuss the infrastructure and the pricing.”
“Perhaps we could also incorporate into the discussion with the Minister awareness of the prevalence of the diseases that are now evident in the agriculture sector. We heard a lot of talk about bluetongue over the winter months, including that it would not be a threat until temperatures went over 12°C.”
“I belatedly congratulate our former colleague and former Leader, Deputy Seán Kyne, on his election. I also congratulate Deputy Daniel Ennis. I do not know Deputy Ennis personally. I have always found Deputy Kyne to be a good colleague, a good friend and a very fair and impartial Leader. I wish him every success in the Lower House.”
“It is very hard to appreciate it at a time when the weather is fine. This may only be a window. It may not be as fine next week. The cycle comes and goes. Farmers need to just stop and think that the work always gets done. It does not all have to be done today. I urge that we would create awareness on that.”
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“I second the proposal by Senator Rabbitte that No. 12 be taken before No. 1. I welcome the inclusion of this Bill on the Order Paper and compliment and thank Senator Rabbitte, who did all the spade work on it. I am honoured to have my name attached to the Bill. I was late to the party, but I am delighted. I live on the banks of the River Brosna, which is a tributary of the Shannon. It is vital that the legislation is updated from the late 1920s or early 1930s version to reflect modern-day Ireland and the fact that we are now dealing with different rainfall types and so on. I will not say anything further until the Bill is before the House. I hope the Senator's proposal can be accepted. I want to be associated with the comments made by previous speakers regarding this historic and momentous day.”
“It is so frustrating, even for the likes of me watching from a distance, to see third country boats coming in and robbing our waters. They are decimating the stock for the future. It is not just about what they take out on any given day. It is the consequences of their actions going forward for the numbers that will be available for the people who are sticking to the rules. I do not know how the Minister of State can do it and it is a new Ministry but that will be one of the big tasks for him, going forward, to take control of the situation with what we call third countries. That is enough of a wish list for the Minister of State. He has a battle on his hands but I know him of old. If I was in a bit of scrap, there is no one I would like better to have on my shoulder than Timmy Dooley so I have no doubt he will fight the good fight.”
“It could be a lot more profitable, going forward, to actually replace the whole boat and get a new rig as opposed to trying to make changes on an ongoing basis to outdated equipment. I would like to see a scheme for fishermen and fisherwomen, similar to TAMS in the other agricultural sectors, where there would be grant aid available for upgrading their equipment. I know the Minister of State has met the Commissioner on numerous occasions and I hope in the battle - it is a battle - that the Minister of State really goes hard on the third countries. The problem is our fishermen live by the book. They live by the rules that are set by Europe and they fish with biology and security in mind. They keep to the allowable catches.”
“I will not be thanked by the people in my own sector for saying what I am saying, but the fishermen and fisherwomen saved the day. Brexit would have wiped a lot of other sectors off the map. The sacrifice was made by the fishing sector. It would be appropriate they would get rewarded for that. I would like to see a scheme for fishermen, and the inshore fishermen and fisherwomen in particular, that is similar to TAMS in the other agricultural sectors. Senator Boyle said it. There are schemes there at the moment. I know the Minister of State is tied on this somewhat by state aid rules and the de minimis rules and all of that, but to modify an old boat for safety reasons can sometimes be a fruitless exercise.”
“The Minister of State has inherited a bit of a minefield. I note the Council meeting that is coming up. Our total allowed catch would be a lot less if it was not for the Hague preferences and I know there is pressure being put on by the French and Dutch, in particular, that the Hague preferences might not kick in on this occasion. That is something that must be fought hard against. As an inland beef farmer, the fishermen saved the day when it came to Brexit. That has to be recognised and acknowledged by other sectors. The Government could and should allocate a little bit more of our own funding towards the sector. That could and should be explained to the other sectors, even if it was a little bit of robbing Peter to pay Paul.”
“I welcome the Minister of State and compliment my Fine Gael colleagues on the motion. We are obviously supporting it. I live in a place called Kilbeggan and you cannot get any more central in the country than there. Yet, having said that, traffic permitting and without breaking the speed limit, I can be on the west coast or the east coast in an hour and 15 minutes maximum. If you were that close to a coast in many other countries, you would say you lived on the coast. I can never figure out why we do not eat more fish as an island nation. A big part of the Minister of State's work going forward would be to promote the produce of our fishermen and fisherwomen on our own island. We need to evolve into fish eaters. That would go halfway to solving the problems. There are many problems there.”
“People need to be aware that some of these outlets are now using Ireland in their advertising to give the impression they are Irish outlets, when they are far from that. The Government needs to lead a strong campaign on this issue. We need to collectively support our own.”
“It is the poor local retailers and traders, and sole traders, who are trying to survive, who are putting their hands in their pockets to support not only the GAA but every other worthy cause within the community. As I said, we are being bombarded at the moment with advertising. There are plenty of Irish retailers, outlets and suppliers who will sell to people online. We need to support them. The Government needs to counteract the Black Friday campaigns with a shop local and support Ireland campaign at this time of the year. A lot of people will do their Christmas shopping on Friday online and purchase goods from places as far afield as China. This will continue until we put up a stand. It is affecting rural Ireland in particular, but also urban Ireland. The urban outlets and high streets are really suffering the consequences.”
“I highlight the issue we are being bombarded with at the moment on every media outlet, including on television and radio, the fact that we have Black Friday on Friday, and the devastating effect this is having on our local rural communities and our local rural retail outlets. Some of the statistics on online shopping are startling and actually frightening. It has been proven that 85% of Internet users do shop online and 40% of those purchases are made outside the EU. A really startling figure is that over €12 million of low level parcels are entering the EU from China every day. Like many people here, I had my local GAA club AGM on Sunday night. We received our financial report and a list of all the sponsors and supports we had within our local community. Not one Chinese company was listed on it.”
“I know there are budgetary constraints but I hope, going into the future, the Minister might be able to raise it again because standing still is not progress.”
“As a racing man, I would often have possibly regretted the fact that maybe the greyhound side was causing more problems than we needed to be dealing with. I have to acknowledge Rásaíocht Con Éireann, RCÉ, and all the massive improvements it is making. As I said, there was €4 million alone last year on welfare. It was a mess - nobody is denying that - but we have to acknowledge progress, and we have to keep funding further progress. We should all know better than anybody as politicians that we will never solve all the problems. They are never all going to be solved, but we have to try to keep going in the right direction, and we should never slow down progress or inhibit it. As I said, I do wish that the fund could increase.”
“We are talking in the bigger picture about a very small investment for the return the two industries bring to our economy. All we have to do is go to Killarney or Galway or Punchestown and see the amount of money that is being spent by tourists, not only domestic but from overseas, who come to these isles to support this. They do so from a sporting point of view, but they are ultimately industries that are employing people and injecting money into rural economies where money is badly needed and there is not much else going on. We need to keep improving. I am never going to deny that. As I said, there were issues with the governance. We have seen massive improvements on the greyhound side. The greyhounds were probably seen as the poor relation.”
“I was here for the Greyhound Racing Act 2019 and we have seen massive improvements when it comes to traceability, welfare and governance issues since that Act. We need to continue working along those lines to improve that. I would go as far as saying that there are a lot of dog issues. We deal with them regularly through the agriculture system, for example, sheep worrying, stray dogs, etc. If every dog owner was as dedicated and committed and worked to the same husbandry as greyhound owners did, we would not actually have dog welfare issues or dog problems. We, the people in this industry, are the flag bearers. I am not going to go through it. I had all the figures here in front of me as well. My colleague and neighbour from Longford mentioned a number of race meetings, the statistics and the return we get.”
“If we stagnate funding, those are the areas that will lose out. Last year, Rásaíocht Con Éireann spent €4 million on welfare issues. Included in that expenditure were dental health schemes, kennel improvement schemes, traceability schemes, greyhound care funding and greyhound care centres. That is where the money goes. If we oppose this funding, we are actually opposing welfare. That is why I would have liked to have seen it increase. HRI has plans for a national equine centre and I welcome the announcement of the second all-weather track, which are all positive moves, but there were problems and there always are problems. There will always be a bad apple and a bad actor in any area. Our goal is to weed those out through the funding, schemes, welfare inspections, etc. We need to weed out the bad actors.”
“That 40% comes from this fund. The remaining 60% comes from the community. The past four projects we did cost between €1.5 million and €2 million overall. We put in an irrigation system to ensure the ground was safe at all times in the interest of horse welfare. There are new state-of-the-art stables, veterinary boxes, a trotting area with rubberised ground and so on, all in the interest of horse welfare and veterinary services on our race tracks. During that period, CCTV cameras were also installed at the request of IHRB but actually funded by HRI. That was again for horse welfare and anti-doping. We had to put down rubberised mats all around our parade ring. They were all the projects. Our current project is a new medical centre. That is for the health and safety of the jockeys and others involved. That is where the money goes.”
“I welcome the fund but I have to record my disappointment at the fact what is in budget 2026 is an equivalent sum to what was in budget 2025. I would have liked to have seen an increase. I warmly and strongly welcome what the Minister said at the conclusion of his statement about the ring-fenced money towards welfare on the back of the report that was commissioned for the Committee of Public Accounts. As an active member and former chairperson of Kilbeggan, I can give my examples as to where the majority of this money goes. The reason I think it needs to be increased is because it is all going towards welfare. The vast majority of it goes towards welfare. While Kilbeggan is a sporting organisation, it does not qualify for sports capital. Our only source of funding for any capital development we undertake is a 40% grant from HRI.”
“I welcome the Minister. It seems a little bit repetitive because the agriculture committee meeting was only yesterday evening and we are dealing with the same topic, so it seems like we are repeating ourselves, but when something is important enough to say, it is important enough to say it more than once. I welcome the fund. As I stated yesterday evening and even though most people know, it would be remiss of me not to put on the record that I am a former chairperson of a rural track at Kilbeggan. I am a current director of Kilbeggan race company. I have raced horses in the past and we are currently breaking a yearling who is the dream. This will be the big one. The Minister knows himself that is how these dreams work.”
“I move: That Seanad Éireann approves the following Regulations in draft: Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund Regulations 2025, copies of which were laid in draft form before Seanad Éireann on 16th October, 2025.”
“Up the road from me this morning, in Cavan, Monaghan and north Leitrim, there is a lot of snow and hazardous travelling conditions, and yet I came up here to sunny, albeit cool, conditions. Winter is coming upon us and the weather is changing here as quickly as Minsters for finance. It was flood issues at the weekend where the councils were out with sandbags; today, they are out gritting. It may be appropriate for us to have statements now on winter readiness when it comes to transport on our rural roads and our protection against all that is coming down the track at us. It is happening so quickly and it is a bit pointless, useless and needless us having statements in this House after storms and weather events. We should have the Minsters in and see how winter ready we actually are.”
“As I was not here yesterday, I add my voice to the condolences and voices of comfort to the five families who were bereaved at the weekend. Along with four members with my family, I travelled to a football game in Mullingar on the N52 in a Volkswagen Golf on Sunday. To say it was a poignant trip would be an understatement because we had heard the news of the same type of car. I wish my remarks to be associated with all the remarks that were passed in the House yesterday. Based on Senator Keogan's last contribution, I wish to be associated with the good wishes to Paschal Donohoe. I think my colleagues to the left will appreciate what I mean when I say he was one of the good Fine Gaelers. The World Bank's gain is certainly Ireland's loss. That is a fair statement for me to make and to tag anyone with.”
“I welcome the supports that the Minister of State, Deputy Healy-Rae, has put funding into new PTOs. He has done a lot of work with awareness and a lot of very good work in the area. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, is placing a specific focus on farmer mental health and well-being. Again, I welcome that. We want to promote positive mental health and well-being across the farming sector. That is the programme for Government and now we just need to go and do it. So far, I have to compliment the Minister of State. I will conclude on Bertie Ahern's famous statement: a lot done, but there is a hell of a lot more to do.”
“I was privileged to be asked by her to chair her launch at the ploughing championships of the 15,000 free counselling hours. It is so important that the man I just mentioned, when he gets off his tractor, does not have change his clothes or anything if he wants to reach out; he can do it at his own kitchen table. The Minister of State kept using that phrase and it is a brilliant one - he can do it from his own kitchen table. I welcome that. There has been a lot done, but there is a lot more to be done. The pulling of it all together under one agency may be the answer. It will not be a magic wand, but it certainly may be a step in the right direction. I welcome the priorities in the programme for Government to continue to prioritise improvements in farm safety and health and well-being through the strengthening supports.”
“I welcome the schemes the Minister of State has mentioned. I compliment the organisations, the IFA and the other representative bodies, which collectively do fantastic work with the farmer health check. Agrikids provides training in schools to educate the children in safety. When the children are educated and made aware of the safety measures that are needed, they will police the adult generation. If the children learn it in school and come home and see their daddy or mammy taking a risk or doing something that they have been taught in school is the wrong way to go, there is nobody better than a child to police you. Education is part of it. The FRS farm safety awareness training and the Bord Bia skin cancer awareness are the Minister of State's initiatives, and I welcome them.”
“It may be dangerous to mention media training but, when you do media training with experts, they will talk about the negative bias of talk radio. In other words, negativity is the punchline on such programmes. If you are a farmer during the summer months harvesting or making silage or hay when the pressure is on, you can potentially be sitting into your tractor at 6 a.m. and listening to talk radio until midnight. If there is a negative bias, as has been proven, what does that do to your mental health? You are also looking up at the clouds through your windscreen to see whether it is going to rain. You are looking back at the trailer and perhaps the yield is not what you thought it would be. There are many other things going on. In a great many cases, you are on your own. It is about the isolation.”
“I introduced a Bill in the Seanad a couple of years ago. It is still in the system. I would like the Department to look at it again. While I am not in favour of quangos, this Bill sets up a farm safety agency modelled on the Road Safety Authority. It deserves consideration and should be revisited and looked at again because we might see fit to put such a body together. That would pull all of the different strands of the web together. There would then be one body answerable for farm safety, farmer well-being, farmer mental health and farmer physical well-being. I am aware of the farm safety partnership but this would go a step further. I will address Deputy Butler as Chief Whip rather than as Minister of State on this next point.”
“I will not go into all of the statistics because the Minister of State has just given them but, unfortunately, two fifths or 40% of all fatal accidents in the workplace occur in the agriculture sector although only 6.5% of the workforce is in that sector. That tells a story in itself. We are mixing chemicals, heavy machinery and animals and, in many cases, the farmyard of daddy and mammy is the playground of the offspring. There are a lot of things going on. There are a lot of things at play. It is very hard to get one ideal solution that fixes all because there are so many different people involved. The Minister of State, Deputy Healy-Rae, will be rolled out because of his responsibility in the Department of agriculture but, at the end of the day, he is probably having to work with the HSA, which is under another Department.”
“The vast majority of that human or pilot error - it is not necessarily the pilot but it can involve air traffic control - comes down to mental fatigue and stress. There are strict rules about the number of hours pilots and air traffic control people can work. Those rules do not exist in agriculture. At the busy time of the season, the farmer is on the tractor for a hell of a lot longer than the pilot is on the plane. It only makes sense that there would be mental stress and fatigue involved. While that is a major problem in itself, it is also most likely leading to some of the physical accidents.”
“Everybody is responsible but there can be situations where ultimately nobody is responsible. On the importance of the mental side, I am going to use an analogy. I am addicted to a programme about air traffic accident investigations. It is not a good pastime to have when you fly. When you are sitting on the runway, you think you hear a rattle in the plane that reminds you of an episode you have seen where a similar rattle caused a crash in Hong Kong or somewhere. I am big into it because of the thorough investigations that are carried out after each accident. The investigators will not put the file away until they know the reason for whatever happened. Some 60% to 80% come down to human or pilot error. It has been proven. The same investigations are not done on the farm safety side but it is thoroughly investigated on that side.”
“When asking for the debate on farm safety, I felt it would be a fantastic statement from us in the Seanad to have Deputy Butler here along with Deputy Healy-Rae, whom I welcome, to raise awareness of the fact that when we talk about farmer health and well-being, we talk about mental health as well as physical health. While, as I have said, it might be unusual to have two Ministers here, I genuinely could have gone for the hat-trick. Perhaps I should have because the HSA, the body that ultimately polices safety, is under the remit of the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment. I could have been greedy and gone for a hat-trick of Ministers. That is a big part of the problems we have when it comes to farmer health and well-being and farm safety. If you have more than one Department involved, things fall between the cracks.”
“I welcome the Ministers of State. While it is not unprecedented to have two here, it is very unusual. There is a reason I asked for the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, to be here when I requested a debate on farm safety and farmer health and well-being. There is a little anomaly. I have been here since 2016 and, back in the day, we used to have debates on farm safety awareness during Farm Safety Week. However, in recent years, Farm Safety Week has fallen during our recess so we have not been afforded the opportunity to highlight the issues pertaining and related to farm safety.”
“Early on, when we were getting to know each other, he found out I was from Kilbeggan, which was one of the bottlenecks on the old Galway-Dublin road before the motorway. We had a good session with the conversation about his trips through all those bottlenecks, landmarks and all the different watering holes from Galway to Dublin. You could talk to Billy about anything but, as I said, you were better served by listening. I am glad I learned that early. If I have one regret in life, it is that I never got to honour my invitation to Chicago while Billy was alive. Go ndéana Dia trócaire ar a anam uasal.”
“Billy’s number was available and he told us all to contact him if there was ever anybody emigrating. My mother, being the granny, and my sister, being my niece's mother, were obviously worried about their girl going to Chicago. When I shared with them that I had given my niece Billy Lawless’s number, you could see the relaxation coming over them. Owing to the image Billy had portrayed over the television, they were happy and comfortable, and the worry was gone. Regardless of whether the number was ever used, the fact that she was armed with Billy Lawless’s number made them so comfortable at home. That says everything. I enjoyed a few evenings at the end of the bar with Billy. I learned very early in that relationship that I was far better served listening than talking. You could listen to Billy Lawless all night.”
“Billy, having the courage of his convictions, had a great way of saying “I agree on the topic and am voting with you”, but he would always qualify that by saying “although I am very grateful to Enda for having appointed me”. He felt it lessened the sin of voting against the Government. However, those were different times and there was probably different politics, but I got to know Billy very well then and I really enjoyed his company. When I first became a Member, my mother, proud of my being here, started to watch the proceedings on the television. She formed an opinion on all the Senators, a kind of league table. I will tell the Senators where they were on it some other day, but Billy was very high up. I can pay Billy no greater compliment than this: my niece decided to go to Chicago.”
“I, too, would like to welcome Anne, Amy and the family members. I make special mention of Tracy. I also came in here in 2016, a little wet behind the ears, for the term of the famous confidence-and-supply Government. Our colleagues in the Dáil were pushing the abstain button. We did not have such a thing here, so we actually had a bit of craic, for want of a better word. We managed to get things like Good Friday drinking legislation through. We were on the other side of the House and Billy was here. The odd time there was something coming down the line, such as a division, our Fianna Fáil Cathaoirleach, Denis O’Donovan, would go missing, which meant Paul Coghlan – the Lord be good to him – had to take the Chair, meaning the Government would have one vote less. Our next target was Billy.”
“Both Governments need to be complimented. It is the way forward. Education will play a major role in the unification of our island. I formally welcome the announcement.”
“We had statements on higher education yesterday evening. We have a lot of debate here. The franchise for the presidential election and allowing people in Northern Ireland to vote was mentioned this morning. We have heard a lot of talk of the shared island and unity polls down the line. What went somewhat under the radar, even during yesterday evening's discussions, was the announcement by the Irish and Northern Irish Governments of a joint, North-South, all-Ireland apprenticeship programme for the first time. When we have issues or problems in society, education can often be blamed as the root cause. However, it is certainly always rolled out as a solution to the problem. The argument is that education will eventually solve all problems. This is a major move that needs to be recognised and acknowledged.”
“It is costing parents a fortune to have their child going to one lecture, then going into town and visiting the library. This situation can be changed. The duration of many courses could be reduced by 25%. If that were to happen, it would be a massive game-changer when it comes to the affordability of third level for the families involved.”
“Let us consider the saving to a family if a student could do a four-year course in three years. That is a 25% saving on accommodation, transport and fees. It is quite doable. That point was hammered home for me at the weekend when I read about a lecturer giving one lecture a week and being paid €175,000. I recognise that institutions may be contractually tied into an arrangement for previous employment but reading that hammered home the issue. The Minister needs to put a group together to examine this matter. It is so frustrating for parents to pay out for accommodation for their son or daughter 100 miles away, whether in Limerick, Galway or wherever, only to telephone their child and hear he or she had only one lecture that day.”
“I welcome that the Minister is freeing up the NTF. I hope it will be put to the very best uses to maximise the resources it can provide. I have previously mentioned something that is a bit of a bugbear of mine. We talk about accommodation, transport costs and fees. The Minister needs to pull heads together to look at timetabling. I know families who are to the pin of their collar paying for four years of accommodation and fees. When the timetable comes out in October, their son or daughter has something like one lecture on a Monday, two on a Tuesday, none on a Wednesday, one on a Thursday and four on a Friday. There are four-year courses that are being dragged out to take four years. That is for the financial gain of the institution and it is the families paying for it.”
“It is vital that the Bill is brought over the line and that the Minister gets his hands on the money and can start investing it. It must be invested in infrastructure within the higher education system. My colleague Senator Dee Ryan and I met with representatives of the universities on these issues. Technology and science have evolved so fast that third level institutions are left with laboratories and technical facilities that are outdated. There must be a massive input into the infrastructure. Before even discussing building student accommodation or new premises, there is a lot of infrastructure that needs upgrading. Artificial intelligence will play a massive role in education as we go forward. A massive capital investment is needed in the technology that will be required by the entire sector.”
“However, that extension is worth a lot to many families, perhaps not this year but, if they have a leaving certificate student in the family, they will gain from it next year. I am not here to clap the Minister on the back but it is important to acknowledge he is going in the right direction. Of course, there is a lot more to be done. This really will sound like I am here to clap him on the back but I also welcome his initiative on the National Training Fund by way of the National Training Fund (Amendment) Bill 2025. For too long, that money was just left to accumulate. The Minister has taken the initiative and has plans for it. The Bill is currently on Committee Stage in the Dáil. When it comes to this House, we will not be found wanting in engaging with it.”
“This is such an important sector that I do not know how we got so far without having a dedicated Minister. We are covering a lot to do with apprenticeships at the higher education committee at the moment. Therefore, there is no point in my duplicating that discussion here today. I compliment the Minister on the €500 reduction in third level fees. There was a muddying of the waters as to the permanent nature of that reduction. It is not a temporary measure; that €500 cost is gone for good and it is the beginning of much more to come. Fair play him. He got a hard time over it but he stood tall. He came out the other side and is on the right road now. I compliment him on that and on the extension of the income thresholds for the SUSI grant. The commentary is about the squeezed middle and the people who got nothing in the budget.”
“Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. I apologise that I missed his opening statement as I had to attend another meeting. Most of the points I wanted to raise have been mentioned by other speakers. It goes to show there is a common theme and the Minister is very much aware at this stage of the key focus for people. It is hard to believe the Ministry is a mere five years old. When we consider the concerns and issues raised by colleagues and the size of the Minister's workload, on which I compliment him, it is hard to believe his Department did not exist five years ago. It is even harder to believe that when it was established five years ago, the commentary was that we were only creating jobs for the boys with another Ministry. Sometimes, we must try to see the woods from the trees.”
“We have agreed to do the appropriate assessments and include the habitats directive, etc., but that will take closer to 76 months to complete, yet we have not been told whether there will be an extension. The Taoiseach needs to prioritise this. I compliment the Taoiseach on the Cabinet water quality committee. We are doing everything in the right direction, but there are farmers going to start out in January not knowing whether they have a derogation. The issue will not wait until the Presidency and needs to be prioritised. In thanking the Taoiseach for what he has done so far, this must be done because farmers must know whether they have a derogation on 1 January as they set out for next year's farming.”
“The Taoiseach will not be surprised if I raise the issue of agriculture with him. He knows its importance and I compliment him. There are a number of issues coming down the track to us in agriculture, such as the CAP negotiations, the Mercosur deal, etc. in which the Taoiseach and the Minister will play a big role, in the back end of next year during our Presidency. There is, however, the big issue of the nitrates derogation. We have had this conversation so the Taoiseach knows it is the big issue. I thank the Taoiseach because he has raised the derogation at the highest level with Commission President von der Leyen, and she gets it too, I believe. Irish farmers are in limbo. We have been sent over a list of stuff to do and we have agreed to do it. There are 76 days until the current derogation runs out on 1 January.”
“If these lads start breaking world records and it looks like taking drugs is normalised, what influence will that have on younger people through social media, with the stature people might have with their speeds and performances? I am fearful of that. There is nothing we can do about it. They are not breaking any laws, apparently, in America. The fact that he was only on €18,000 was what struck a chord with me. Maybe we should have that conversation now as opposed to post Olympics when we are celebrating or giving out about our performances.”
“We can do nothing to change that and I have no problem with it. That is his decision. His justification for it was that it was an opportunity for him to make some money, having been on a mere €18,000 per year as an elite swimmer in the Irish elite swimming team for the Olympics. We all get carried away with the Olympics every four years. We are all in, looking for reviews, money and meetings with the Minister for sport, and we want more medals the next time, then it dies off. Maybe it is time to revisit that. I would like to ask for the Minister for sport to come in to have a debate about that fact. We cannot influence the enhanced games. It is up to us whether we agree or disagree with it. I would be fearful that it would become a model for young people.”
“On my way here this morning, I heard an interview on "Morning Ireland" with a lady called Ann Woodlock, who is an 86-year-old who won a gold medal for Ireland in the European Masters Athletics Championships in Madeira at the weekend. It was a breath of fresh air and I take this opportunity to congratulate her. It was such a refreshing interview. It got me thinking about the fact that it was in the same news cycle as the news over the last couple of days about Shane Ryan, our Olympic swimmer, having signed up to the Enhanced Games. I compliment, congratulate and thank Shane for the service that he has given Irish sport. I heard his interview on the radio yesterday evening. What struck me was his justification for signing up to the Enhanced Games, where you can actually take drugs under a doctor's supervision.”
“A Ukrainian life is no more important than that of a Palestinian or an Israeli, but because of what was going on elsewhere, the Ukrainian situation was somewhat in the background in the media. It is very important that we highlight it and bring it to the fore again this evening. If we achieve nothing else by this motion, we need to get this issue back as the headline. That is what puts pressure on the ultimate powers that be - if it is on the front page, if it is the headline and if it is the first thing on the lips of every human being. That is what makes people act. We want to get that back to the forefront of conversation. We want to get everybody concerned around the table to thrash out and implement a ceasefire, with a workable peace process going forward from there.”
“We need to revisit the sanctions and get Putin to the table because it is at the table that this will eventually be resolved. Drones and illegal aircraft are flying over European airspace. The EU was formed post the Second World War. This is as close as we have ever been to a similar crisis since that war ended in 1945. As people here know, I am a farmer. My input costs are affected because of the war. It is affecting us all. That seems totally insignificant when we are talking about lives but it is important. I thank those who put this motion together. It is important to keep this issue to the fore. It is hard to say this correctly because all war is wrong and all life is important.”