Joe O'Reilly (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our panel of speakers. I apologise for unavoidably missing their initial presentations but I will read their written submission and look forward to hearing their responses later. The speakers are an important part of any debate we have on this issue. Any debate about economics, the future of Europe and so forth needs to be tempered with a focus on building society and on the reality of people's lives. We need not talk constantly about abstract figures but the real impact on people. In that sense, I welcome the speakers' input to the debate.

I will raise a few issues which are important to put on record. Not to do so would be negligent because that is what we are elected here to do. On the question of energy, I agree with the basic thesis of my colleague, Deputy Durkan, who is a very experienced parliamentarian and who is very competent, that we have a national interest around agriculture and that involves the lives of people and families. The entire infrastructure of rural Ireland is at issue. For example, in the county in the constituency I represent-----