Shane McEntee (Meath, Fine Gael)

One would not know what the debate was about or whether it concerned Knock Airport or Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. Nonetheless, it is good that the Bill is still alive. As I always say, where there is life, there is hope. For a country that has taken so much from the European Union during the years, it amazes me that we have never been able to stand on our own two feet or stand back and dictate the kind of Europe we want.

We all know that this country is in its infancy with regard to building. I hope there will be another 20 years of construction and long may the current property boom last, although the time will come when enough houses have been built and building comes to a halt. However, the industry on which this country has been built and of which we can always be proud is the food industry. That industry will be gone because we will have handed over the reins to every other country to import food at a cheap price but at a quality those countries cannot stand over.

A family in Ashbourne, County Meath, sold their own lettuce, potatoes and vegetables of every sort. Approximately 700 people a week visited the farm and bought the produce because they knew its quality and provenance, as it was grown on the family land. Last Tuesday, however, the business was closed down. There was a minor planning problem which could have been rectified, but the reason for the closure was because the three main supermarket chains constantly complained to Meath County Council about this man and his wife and children growing their own food and selling it. Unfortunately, that business is gone and the food has been ploughed back into the ground because there is nowhere to sell it.

Nobody can stand over the standard of the products consumers buy from shop shelves. For years Ireland built slatted units for meat and received grants from the European Union but these units are now idle. The bit of quality beef we produce is bought by the rich of different countries while most of our supermarkets and eating places import substandard food from South America. We know that meat which is supposedly from Brazil is not from there because Brazil now supplies most of Europe with beef and is running short. Beef is imported untagged and untraceable from other countries and this is what the Irish people are asked to eat.

For the past 60 years, small shops in small towns and villages always stocked the quality food we enjoyed. Quality of life was always good, as was the health of the people. When questions about why this country has such high rates of diseases like stomach cancer are finally answered, they will reveal that the culprit is the change in our diet and the food chain, involving as it does the increased production of processed food without proper monitoring of its effects on human health. Stomach cancer is practically non-existent in China, where rice has been the main diet for many years. Ireland has reached a stage where age means nothing with regard to developing cancer. It might take another 15 to 20 years for research into this area to come to light, but it will show that the increase in cancer is due to our food chain.

Deputy Cowley likened Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to Tweedledum and Tweedledee, but everyone in this House, with the Irish people, has been responsible for the country's success. I would like to think that we could preserve our agricultural sector and villages. I do not wish Ireland to become like the United Kingdom where people living in villages must travel 30 or 40 miles to shop or go for a drink. We seem to be heading in that direction. Perhaps we should work together on this matter. Some speakers have commented that Fianna Fáil backbenchers oppose this Bill but we should put our heads together in respect of our agricultural products, towns, villages and food.

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