Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Listening to Mr. O'Driscoll, one would wonder why on earth any change was made at all given the stellar performance of the SIU, as my colleague was saying. That contradicts not only the six or seven cases we heard, to which I will come back in a moment, but also the views of the current IFA president, Mr. Eddie Downey. He has stated in public repeatedly that the unit that Mr. O’Driscoll lauds “rode roughshod over the rights of hard-working farmers”. That was a view held by his predecessor, Mr. John Bryan, who was very critical of the unit. I have a report from the end of 2013 and it is stated the Minister, Deputy Coveney, was at an IFA meeting in Cork, heard the many complaints and the reiteration of the IFA position and told the delegation that such conduct by the SIU was not acceptable and that he would have matters fully investigated. I want to put it to Mr. O’Driscoll and put on the record that the account he has given of the SIU certainly does not reflect the account or experience of many others. I refer to the cases we have heard about directly and more broadly within the farming community. Does Mr. O’Driscoll accept that?