Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)

I compliment Deputy Michael Creed for putting forward this important motion. Earlier this year the Oireachtas committee on agriculture discussed this motion and members from all sides of the House agreed that an extension of the scheme was necessary and should be granted. It is unfair of the Government to put forward an amendment to the motion; it is equally unfair of the Government Deputies to say one thing in the joint committee and do the opposite in the House. I challenge Members on all sides of the House to support the motion proposed by Deputy Creed.

Previous speakers have offered reasons from a farming point of view for an extension. I can offer the point of view of a little village in a rural area in the heart of County Tipperary, which I represent. In the 1950s O'Dwyer Steel was set up by a native of the village. Today, the company employs 100 people. Local people have trained as welders, fitters and steel erectors. The company has provided huge employment for many years and is now owned by some of the people who started as employees there years ago. Every Member of the House would consider that company a real example of how to protect rural Ireland. The Government talks about an endless list of programmes to show what it is doing for rural areas but this is an example of how to protect jobs in those areas. The concrete, steel and so forth for each simple project are produced in the rural area. Now the Government has failed to seek an extension to this scheme, which has had such an impact on this rural village.

The scheme does much for the environment and is important for the rural environment protection schemes and the nitrates directive. That is the reason it was put in place. However, there have been problems with bad weather, delays with planning permission and so forth. I have never previously spoken on a motion before the House that was so simple to deal with and had such an impact on a rural area. I urge the Minister to go to Brussels to protect jobs in rural areas. The situation in Dundrum, County Tipperary, is mirrored in many parishes throughout Munster and the rest of the country.

This is a time of great economic difficulty. Never has the Minister had such an opportunity to go to Brussels with a very simple request, that is, to extend the scheme, allow people to work in rural areas and allow farmers to construct sheds and tanks that are essential to the future of the industry. The reality is that many things are falling around us. There is hope for the agriculture sector if we protect it and work to develop it. I ask the Minster to consider what he is doing for people in rural areas.

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