Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)

I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy Mary Wallace, on her appointment.

While we are very good Europeans, we sometimes jump in as we did in the case of the habitats directive when we designated too many areas. Given that this directive would criminalise farmers and would do considerable damage, would the Minister agree in retrospect that the Teagasc advice, which was meant as a guideline and not as gospel, was taken as such by Government and that it jumped too soon? If the decision were to be taken now, would the Government think differently about the issue?

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