Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. Gorman and congratulate him and Mr. Drennan on becoming presidents of their respective associations. For the sake of farmers, I wish them well in their new roles. I will take up where Mr. Gorman left off about the small farms. It is terrible that this is going to affect small farmers.

I know of a farmer with 58 cows who has to reduce to 44. I was on the phone to him a while ago. He has a son. He worked all his life and built up his place. It is modern and he has everything right, and there is nothing wrong as far as the farmyard or anything like that is concerned. Years ago, my father helped him to get an underpass across the main Rathmore–Millstreet road. That was one of the issues he had but it was sorted out. To get to the other half of his farm, he did not want to have to cross the road. It was costly for him at the time. He certainly wanted his place to continue in his name but his son has decided, because of what has happened and other things, to continue with his apprenticeship and go down that route instead of coming back to the farm.

This happened before with small farmers. It hurt me very much. As the witnesses know, we have a small pub in a small village. I knew every fellow’s story at the time in question and about the small fellows who had to get out of milk production because of the quota. What was very wrong was that farmers with quotas of 10,000 or 15,000 gallons were limited and could not expand. They could not live on their quotas because of various requirements and the increase in the standard of living. They could not stay with it and were not allowed to increase their quotas. At the same time, I remember too well seeing farmers with quotas of 100,000 gallons complaining on television. A fellow with 300 cows, by comparison with someone with 58, still has room to live if he reduces a bit. However, the man I have mentioned and his son have no hope. It is very wrong.

When I hear that we are depending on the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O’Gorman, and the Minister for the Environment, Deputy Ryan, to get us out of the mess we are in, undo the knot and address the problem we have, I say we are up against a concrete wall. It is very wrong. Every elected Member and people who are not elected are entitled to their opinions but it is very wrong that the Green tail is now wagging the dog. I cannot understand why the Government allows this to happen and it hurts small fellows like the man I have mentioned.

When I hear about water quality, I get very worried. There are many more forces at play than farming if the water is wrong. There are no treatment plants in 30 or 40 settlements around Kerry. We are roaring and shouting at the Government to do something about it, and that is just in Kerry alone. Some of the plants we have are not up to scratch. Take Castleisland, for example. I have documents that belonged to my father above in an ould shed on the farm. They date back to 1986, when people were looking for an extension to the sewage scheme in Castleisland. In nearly 50 years, there has been no sign of it. Let nobody tell me the water quality is not affected as much by septic tanks and their proliferation in certain places as farming. This is actually in the town. You might say something different if it were out in the country. I am referring to an extension of the town; it is part of the town. The houses all have septic tanks and at the same time we are going to blame the farmers in the area. There is good land around Castleisland. There are good farmers around Castleisland and they have persevered, but it is very wrong that we are not being listened to by Europe or the Government here. There are other forces at play regarding the water, and that has to be recognised.

Planning is an issue. There are good farmers who cannot get planning permission. There are objections and serial objectors. I hear what is being asked for regarding exemptions. I will be asking for it. It is a good idea. If Liebherr, which is on the national secondary road, can expand its business, a farmer should be entitled to expand his facilities in the same way to cater for his needs. The TAMS grant, other grants and the VAT requirement have us driven mad in our office since last September or October. There is no point in the world in any Minister saying he will give a grant for storage or whatever if the VAT cannot be got back. One is cancelling out the other, which is not fair. I and others have been raising that. It is very wrong.

The big elephant in the room is sequestration. If you stood on a height in our little parish of Kilgarvan – I have taken the media up there – you would see we have only a few dots of green fields here and there. The rest includes trees, bushes, scrub and every kind of rubbish. You could not put out a bag of fertiliser or travel on it. I include the area over the hills into west Cork, which we are near, all the way back to Cahersiveen, up to Mangerton Mountain and the periphery of all the parishes. I ask the new presidents to fight this. Why do we have to wait for sequestration to be measured? We were given a date of 2027 and now there is no account of it. How can we be penalised if we are not acknowledged for what we are sequestering? The whole thing is absolute rubbish.