Ned O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail)

We had cheap imports from the Pacific and south Atlantic regions, which competed successfully against Irish farmers. I have seen this. The same thing happened in my own locality, where we had a wonderful organisation called Dairygold. It used to turn over €1 billion per annum, killed 500,000 pigs and 100,000 cattle, as well as processing approximately 200 million gallons of milk into substantial and good brands. All now is gone. A chief executive came in there four or five years ago who diversified into the construction industry. Although he was going to build empires in the towns and villages, all that remains to us is rubble. We have loads of rubble in Mallow and Mitchelstown. The reason I mentioned the N72 and N73 is because the rubble would be ideal to rebuild those roads.

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