Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We can all agree that the sausage machine should never have been used. It should have been gone 20 years ago and we thought we had got rid of it. When it changed from the Department of Arts, Heritage the Gaeltacht and the Islands to the Department of the Environment and Local Government, it seemed to make a recovery, but it should never have happened. It was gone in 1999 or 2000 and it should have stayed that way. There was no justification for using it. I would never defend its use, as it was totally destructive. The farmers never defended its use either. There were just a few people using it.

I ask for the figures for the total numbers of SAC, NHA and SPA blanket bogs. Is the figure 240,000 ha?