Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)

I am in Deputy Mattie McGrath's seat and I am allowed to speak on septic tanks. Seriously, it is a significant problem at present and the people are really concerned about it.

This comes back to the matter of global warming, the ozone layer, etc. At the end of the day, Ireland is a very small country and the amount that we contribute to global warming or to the problems with the ozone layer is minuscule. This is a small country on the periphery of Europe. There are the big block countries in North America and South America and China with billions of people, and here we are. If Europe or anybody else in the world dictates that we must do this or that, we will jump through rings to comply with every rule, law and regulation while there are others who seem to be able to do whatever they like. Returning to the environmentally friendly cars, that is why people are really sour about this, and they are also really sore about it.

I apologise for going around the garden, but I believe the subject of global warming is an industry in itself. In the 12th and 13th centuries, our little country was burnt. In the 15th and 16th centuries, it was drowned. From 1740, it rained continuously for two years.

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