Mr. Michael Silke:

Could I make the point about the habitats directive? I worked on the directive, as Deputy Fitzmaurice has alluded to, from its very inception. I was landed with this ball of you-know-what when I was involved with the IFA. I dealt with it for ten years. It was a tough business to be in. The habitats directive was there to protect the habitats and the wildlife on the habitats. We had one of the finest habitats in Europe on the Shannon Callows but we do not have it today. We killed the corncrake because we flooded them out. I live on the Shannon myself. I have an island in the Shannon and I go to it every day. I remember going up in the boat to herd the cattle. Corncrakes were flying out of the meadowlands because that is where they nest. They do not nest where cattle are grazed. They were flying up and down the Shannon in a totally disoriented manner. Their chicks, in their little nest, were floating beside me in the boat. That is how serious it was. We are talking about the habitats directive today. The wader bird population has been almost decimated in the Shannon Callows because of summer flooding. We will lose all of that if we do not tackle the flooding.