Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Environmentalism is a broad church. One does not need to be a fundamentalist to be an environmentalist. One must also listen to people. Supporting environmentalism does not mean keeping people cold in their homes. People need to be encouraged, whereas the Government is discouraging them. If a farmer's land is flooded in the middle of the summer as a result of action by the National Parks and Wildlife Service and inaction by the Office of Public Works, how can the Government expect him or her to have respect for the environment? Farmers, who are being criticised for damaging the environment, are the very same people who worked with environmentalists to save the corncrake, hen harrier and many other birds. As a result of the activity of the National Parks and Wildlife Service, these birds can no longer nest in certain areas in the summer. The NPWS is damaging wildlife, while the farmers who co-operated with efforts to save certain bird species are throwing their arms in the air and asking why the service is killing the very thing it claimed it was trying to save. This does not help.

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