Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)

The plan is to depopulate my county. Recently the terrible job losses at Allergen, Bellacorick and Bord na Móna have been a severe body blow to the most socio-economically deprived area of Ireland. Those left on the land are trying to hold on. The land is their heritage and it is their right to stay on it. However, it is getting more difficult to do so with the problems in securing off-farm employment. Farmers have left the land in County Mayo in their thousands. The agenda is to further decimate the area and give the coup de grâce to those who remain on the land by diluting the disadvantaged status of the county. Moves are afoot to negotiate the disadvantaged status to one criterion, not location but soil quality. This must be resisted and I call on the Government to be vigilant on this issue.

The powers that be want to recentralise jobs from County Mayo. The Department of Agriculture and Food was decentralised to Davitt House in Castlebar several years ago.

See this speech in context