I noticed over the last few days that senior Ministers are very fond of coming out and making announcements. Between watching television interviews and different commentaries on it, I notice the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, is being rolled out every time. Where is the senior Minister from Galway? She was good at coming out when the decision was being reversed. That the Minister of State had to do the batting for the last few days is very notable. This needs to be sorted. There are vulnerable children. Our Co…

She was away all week.

During Covid, the buzzword everywhere in every country was about food security and making sure that where shortages were showing up in places, we would learn from those mistakes. Ironically enough - in my opinion, it is because of Commission pressure - over the last couple of years it is worrying to see in Holland that regarding 10% of the land where farmers were farming, they had to sign a docket. They were basically turfed out and told they cannot farm in Europe again. They had to sign that docket. It is the same…

I never said I was totally opposed to trade deals. We have to bring in bananas and other things from some other countries. There is no one saying otherwise. The question I am asking is whether it does not sound an alarm to all European leaders. By the way, if you look at the stats for Irish exports, most of them go to Europe and the UK, especially in the line of beef. Think about if policy was right in industry and agriculture. Figures have gone up in industry and people working. We have lost 5.5 million farms in E…

I welcome the announcement, and the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, is here, in relation to the likes of modular granny flats and all of that coming in. I thank him for a meeting we had in the past few weeks. I have one question we are getting a lot of calls about, which is the modular unit or small shed at the back that people want to try to get done up. When does the Government envisage the legislation will go through the House so people can plan for it now?

Will it be ready for summer?

Flooding is a fairly complicated scenario. It might look simple to address and devastating for families but there are a lot of different parts to this. The first thing people need to understand relates to towns especially. When Dublin was being developed, a certain number of pipes were put in, maybe 12 in., 14 in. or 18 in. in diameter. Then it was decided to build more houses and buildings, which was good, but the pipes had to take more and more water from the new estates. This went on and on. No more than with wh…

I support the Bill. I have known the Minister of State a good while, but whoever wrote his speech has never pulled a calf or brought lambs. I will tell him one thing; you would wonder what we are listening to compared with what we are talking about. He talked about the CAP strategic plan. The fact about the new CAP and Food Vision 2030 is that at this moment, farmers around the country are facing a 24% cut to their CAP payments. How will that protect the family farm? The Minister of State talked about well-being. T…

I welcome this debate. The Dáil has learned a lot about bluetongue. People need to know anything you eat is safe and that it does not spread, like some diseases, mouth to mouth. I think that is very important for the public. I ask the Minister one thing, which is that public representatives are informed about where we are with Tunisia, Northern Ireland and the likes of Greece and some other countries he would be familiar with that we are exporting to. We are getting a lot of feedback at the moment from Northern Ire…

I welcome the opportunity to speak in support of this motion. In fairness, money is not a problem but trying to get it done is a problem. The Minister of State, Deputy Moran, and I have been involved with Lough Funshinagh for a number of years. I have seen previous Ministers. What had to be done in Lough Funshinagh was a temporary measure to allow the water to be pumped away. Does the Minister of State know what the reason is? The pipes were three quarters down. Environmentalists brought a case to court. The pipes …

The councils are underfunded. The Minister of State is from the same county as me and he knows this. Galway is probably one of the worst funded counties in general, but in roads especially. Another issue is roadside hedges. Anyone who drives a lorry will know that the first thing that will happen is the mirrors will be clipped. Two rows of hedges will have been cut and the third one will not have been. They have to keep hedges out of the road. That is causing more problems. We have to sympathise with anyone who has…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this debate. I welcome the farmers from the farming bodies around the country. There are a few things we need to put into perspective. Farmers contribute €6 million to Bord Bia. No one is knocking every part of Bord Bia. No one is doing that. There is a job for everyone to do. We are great at telling the story, and it is great to hear about the volume of exports each year. I have carried out an analysis in respect of sheep. We do not hear that part of it. In 2022, we exported €…

The Government has created the perfect storm. Ireland has applied itself to making sure there are more jobs. That is a great thing. We should always encourage equality and ensure that people, whether men or women, can get jobs. A lot of people in Ireland are now working and that is a great thing. When my kids were growing up, they were able to go over the road to a local person who we would call the childminder. This person might have reared seven or eight children of their own. These people treated our children as…

He has two minutes and 45 seconds.

It is 20 minutes between six. It should be two minutes and 45 seconds for each of us.

Okay. I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate. The Minister was not here when a previous Minister signed more of our country's sovereignty away, to put it very simply. We should still be in control of our own affairs. That has gone. It is water under the bridge now. We have two systems in Ireland. We should make it very clear that we value people who have come here through the visa system and who are doing great work throughout the country. They need to be appreciated for everything they are doing. Howeve…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. First, what Russia is doing is completely wrong and I do not think anyone would condone it. However, at the end of the day, Europe has come together and decided to give a loan, but a loan to what? How will this be paid back? In the name of God, I do not know why or how we have people who sign up to things they call loans. If you go in for a loan, you have to show credentials, have back-up and show how you will pay for something. It is a charade to call this a loan …

First, I salute every farmer and person, not alone farmers, who came to Athlone last Saturday. It was a credit to them. The worrying thing tonight is when I see a consultation for 30 days in a factory not far from here. It shows the signs of policy over the last number of years. A factory in a deboning hall is having a 30-day consultation. You do not have to be a professor to know what is coming out of that. Yesterday, in Brazil, soya producers said they are going back into the rainforest and forgetting about their…

On behalf of Independent Ireland, I wish a very happy Christmas and a prosperous new year to the Ceann Comhairle, the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, Members and the staff, without whom our job would be fairly tough. I also want to thank the people on the gate in Agriculture House. That are some who might not associate the latter with the Dáil, but they are there every morning at 7 o'clock and work late into the night. We should thank each and every one of them for the way they facilitate us. It was disturbing, to say the l…

Every Wednesday night, we press a button here and decide whether are for or against something. We lose some and we win some, but that is what we do; we make a decision. Poland has made a clear-cut decision. France has asked that the matter to be kicked out to the new year. The least Ireland could do would be to issue a statement and join France in that regard. Whether we are on the winning side or the losing side, we need to be on the side of our farmers. Our farmers are very clear in stating that they do not want …