Paul Connaughton Snr (Galway East, Fine Gael)

I am sure they heard it in Kilkenny as well. They hoped to be able to put pressure on the Minister to change the date.

Let us leave the politics out of this issue. There are 10,000 Irish farmers who will do a wonderful job of improving the environmental standards on their farms if they are given the opportunity. If they are given an additional six months, in the driest part of next year, everybody will be happy. It will not cost the Exchequer anything extra because had the work been completed, the money would have been paid to them anyway. They are not ready, through no fault of their own. I ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Ó Cuív, to go back to Brussels and do whatever is humanly possible to ensure the deadline for the scheme is extended and then everybody will be happy.

It has been argued that farmers were told about the deadline, which is true. However, there was no way of knowing two years ago that farmers would not be able to get a builder no matter what they paid, because builders were working on the big Government projects that eventually went wallop. When builders were available, many farmers could not get their bank managers to give them a loan, particularly in the last six months. They practically had to sign in blood.

In one small area of north Galway six small building contractors told me that if the scheme is not extended, they will lay off 130 people between them, including welders, carpenters and scaffolders. Who will take the blame for that? These are unnecessary redundancies that must be laid at the feet of the Government, should they happen.

See this speech in context