Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

There is a different reason, which I will come to in a moment. The motion has the potential to cause uproar in rural areas. The proposals before the House relating to peat extraction are a Trojan horse. The Minister may be right in saying that the proposals arise from the judgment of the European Court of Justice and the prospect that this country will face a daily fine of €26,000 if the issue is not addressed. However, the European Court of Justice imposed that fine two years ago. The Minister had two years to bring the issue before an Oireachtas committee; he did not have to leave it until the last week before the Dáil rises for the summer.

Furthermore, the issue first arose six years ago in 1999 and the Government had plenty of time to bring proposals on this issue to an Oireachtas committee or into the body of the House if it was of the mind to do so. We now have a motion, introduced two days before the Dáil rises, which will give rise to set of circumstances which will result in people who have traditionally cut turf for their own use on their own bogs now having to obtain planning permission and undertake an environmental impact assessment before the turf can be cut.

When the uproar starts — and this is where I come back to the Green Party — and the back bench Deputies of the Minister's party and the Government parties are confronted with it in their constituencies, they will blame the Green Party. They will say that the Green Party would not allow the matter to be discussed. That is what the blame of the Green Party is about.

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