Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Silke is right in what he is saying, but the law is an ass at the moment, to be frank about it. All that habitat is being lost but if people try to put a machine or dredger into it, the largest window they will have is 12 weeks. They have to go through paperwork. There is a place called the Four Courts which people love going to. In the European Court of Justice judgments, socioeconomics seem to be gone. It is just straitjacket stuff. Until someone gets to Europe and gets it to cop on, and defines what an emergency is, that is where I think our problem is. Mr. Silke is entirely right in what he is saying. The do-gooders have been responsible for all the different vegetation and bird types being drowned, from what Mr. Silke is saying.