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

We are signing up to something here that down the road will bite us in the ass. If I lived in the Golden Vale, there would be no worries because of the soil type found there. It is different, though, if you live in Donegal, the west or the midlands and come from an area that has peaty soil. The same EU, as I said, gave grants for people to drain land. There is not a hope in God of achieving the required status. First, if land has been shored and drained, there will be green grass growing on it because, to put it simply, land has been made out of it. If you dig down in land like that, it is peat. There is no point in saying it is not. Alarms bells are ringing with this nature restoration law and the directive given the type of soil in those areas. Would the witnesses agree?