Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I sincerely thank the Technical Group and Deputy Mattie McGrath for sharing their time with me. I am glad to have this opportunity to speak to the Bill. I acknowledge the presence of the Minister of State, Deputy Ann Phelan, and thank her for being here. During the course of an earlier discussion on the Leader programme, we heard that people working on the ground were highly complimentary of her and her work to date in dealing with Leader groups. Despite the fact that we have a problem with what the Government is doing, we acknowledge her work and ability. We would like to put pound signs behind her ministerial role and then we would be flying, but hopefully that will come too. I acknowledge the input of the Minister of State and thank her for the excellent work she has been doing.

This is an important Bill. Amazingly, one group that probably did the most disservice to climate control and climate action was the Green Party because of the adversarial way it took on this issue. They were down on farmers and on everybody. There were against everything and for nothing. They did not greatly help in progressing this issue. We have to consider climate change not in a timeframe of a year, a month or five or ten years but over the past 50, 100, 200, 500 or 1,000 years. We can reflect on the many climate changes we have experienced. When we hear people talking about having had a bad winter, we can reflect on when countries in Europe were under metres upon metres of ice which has long since receded, but that shows climate change over a long timeframe.

A former Vice President of the US, Al Gore, who ran for the presidency but did not make it, has made a very successful and good living out of talking about climate change and climate control, and more luck to him, as have many others in society. They make a living out of talking about our climate. Our workers and farmers live in our climate. The previous speaker made a well thought out contribution and he knows what he is talking about when it comes to agriculture and related issues. Farmers have had to endure the most unusual of scenarios in recent years. Our forefathers would never have thought that hay and straw would have to be imported from France and other parts of Europe and distributed in a famine like crisis through our marts. We were all, myself included, very glad to receive it at the time because we had nothing to feed our animals. There were cows in sheds and we had nothing to feed them. We were damn glad to get what we got from the marts. I compliment the people who organised that and the then Government. Even though we had been calling on the then Minister to intervene for a long time, the Minister eventually belatedly woke up and realised there was a crisis. It was an usual situation. It was unprecedented but we had to work through it and we got out the other side. That crisis showed that our climate can have a dramatic impact on people's livelihoods. Parts of North America experience awful winters but they can deal with frost, ice and snow, but if we get the slightest sign of frost, ice or snow, there is chaos. There is a major panic and it is as if it were the end of the world as we had never experienced such conditions. We must ensure that we are capable of dealing with such events. I have dealt with the atrocious winters we have had. I want to especially compliment the IFA and the ICMSA on dealing with the crisis at that time. There is nothing worse than a farmer having a shed full of cattle and nothing to feed them.

That is awful. Not a lot of Members sitting on these seats have heard animals roaring with hunger, but any person who has that knowledge knows what I am talking about. For the first time in my lifetime, I heard that roar and it was bad. I thank everyone involved in addressing what was a serious issue. We worked through and got out of it.

As regards wind and wave energy, we want to provide as many renewable energy options as possible. Local authorities have much to do with dealing with this issue because when a group of farmers want to form a committee to enhance farm incomes by developing a community wind farm, they must face their local authority. Unfortunately, on many occasions local authorities are restrictive in the planning permission they grant. In the area I am from some wind farm applications have been granted, while others have been refused. We were always told that beauty was in the eye of the beholder and I can see nothing wrong with wind farm development, provided it occurs in a location where it will not prove detrimental to the person in a family home. If householders object, more luck to them and they are right to do so if they do not want it. However, if a wind farm is proposed and developed in a place away from built-up areas, while it may be seen from some areas, I can see nothing wrong with it. If it is not damaging property values for those adjacent to it, there is nothing wrong with it. Unfortunately, for many years local authorities have been refusing far more proposals than they have been granting. If ten farmers come together and want to develop a wind farm with a number of turbines, when it comes to zoning the area, one does not have to zone restrictively for two or three farmers but for hundreds of acres. It makes no difference who owns the land, but a big scope of ground is included. Unfortunately, local authorities have been refusing applications. If they were granted, it would give us a valuable source of renewable energy and, most importantly, give small farmers additional off-farm income that they would not otherwise have. That additional income might help to sustain the family farm and keep them in place.

This is the part the Green Party missed completely because it was not on the right wavelength. The best person in Ireland to protect, mind and safeguard land is a farmer because he or she knows that he or she does not really own the land. I do not own my land; rather, it was given to me by my family and I will never sell so much as one millimetre of it. I will pass it on to the next generation. I am the same as other landowners and we do not own the land. It is not a valuable asset and not something in our pockets. Someone would have to shoot me to get me to sell one acre of land and that still would not do because I would not sell it. All true farmers are of this mentality. A farmer is a caretaker of ground. He or she was given the land and is grateful to his or her parents and grandparents. He or she will mind it and spend every bob he or she has or does not have to improve it, to try to make it better and more viable in order that it can accrue more income. At the end of his or her days, when he or she pops his or her clogs, all he or she is interested in doing is picking the best person to mind it, take care of it and pass it on to the next generation. If people really want to study climate change, they should read the statistics for farmers and how often they sell land. It is a regular occurrence in other parts of Europe. One day they have land, the next they do not because they flip and sell land which they treat like a commodity. In Ireland it is not a commodity. That is where the Green Party fell on its bottom and why there are no Green Party members with bottoms on seats in this Chamber. It missed the big issue. The farmers of Ireland are the custodians of land and heritage and the people who protect the environment. I am not a critical person, but I was disappointed with the Government when it had no agri-environmental scheme for the first time in 27 years. That was wrong because if we give farmers encouragement and an incentive, they will spend it threefold in enhancing and protecting their landholdings.

When it comes to enhancing and protecting the planet, farmers play a critical role. Our farmers have invested heavily in slatted sheds in order that they can winter cattle indoors. Sheep farmers have invested heavily in sheep sheds in order that they can winter, fatten and lamb sheep indoors. Slurry being spread at appropriate times is a big issue as we should never try to farm by the calendar. We should farm in the way the farmer wants. The Minister of State is a sensible person and knows that January could be a better month for the spreading of slurry than August. Many times in the past 15 years it was far easier to travel land in January than in August. That is unbelievable but true and I know it to be true from experience. In January the weather could be fine, hard and fresh, but we might not be able to travel land in August if it was pouring rain.

Farmers have invested, but I know of numerous towns and villages where sewage is going straight into lakes and rivers. If private individuals or farmers were to do it, there would be outrage and they would be condemned and convicted for doing so. However, the main polluters of the environment are the local authorities. In any county in Ireland finding the biggest polluter presents no problem because all it involves is going to the local authority, not farmers, guesthouse owners or small business people. This issue must be addressed quickly.

The Bill provides for the unequivocal commitment of the State to existing and future EU and international law and in respect of greenhouse gas emissions and the climate change adaptation framework. I have major concerns regarding the EU's decision in 2009 in respect of greenhouse gas mitigation targets up to the year 2020. The reason for those concerns relates to the fact that the issue of climate change has been hijacked by vested interests and is being used as a vehicle to make money. We are all aware that climate change has always been with us. As stated earlier, one need only consider the ice age and the fact that we have experienced many different types of climate change over hundreds of years. When one discusses climate, one cannot do so in the context of a period of five, ten, or 20 years. One must instead consider periods of 25, 50, 100 or thousands of years. One must carry out studies and then assess what needs to be done. That is the aspect of this matter which the Green Party missed. In order to cheer up the Minister of State - she may think I am becoming boring - I must inform her that one of the most amusing things I ever witnessed occurred when the Green Party was, to some extent, in power. Its Ministers used to cycle to work in the Dáil and they would be followed by their ministerial cars, which had their briefcases and their papers in the boot. They thought they were great because they had their pictures taken as they cycled in the gates of Leinster House. I am not a member of the Green Party - I never will be - but I cycle to work quite early every morning and I enter the complex by a back way. Nobody sees me arriving. The members of the Green Party to whom I refer did what I call the "green cause" no good.

Let us consider who are the real people who are interested in green issues, who promote climate protection and who - in the best way possible - act as custodians of our climate. Those to whom I refer are the people who were hurt and put down by the Green Party when it was in government. I am, of course, referring to the members of the farming community. I am glad that community, its representatives, politicians who have sympathy with it, the IFA, the ICMSA and all the other farming organisations survived when the Green Party did not. Farmers and the IFA survived because they were straight about their business and they worked in respect of the issues. They knew what they were talking about and they did not speak nonsense. They were very sensible and practical. I admire the IFA so much because I am of the view that it is in tune with the relevant issues.

We need more help from people such as the Minister of State. She must encourage some of her senior colleagues who might not be as knowledgeable as she is with regard to matters such as those under discussion. The Minister of State knows what I am talking about in this regard. Her senior colleagues in Government need to be pointed in the right direction. Those of us on this side of the House try our best but some of the Minister of State's colleagues remain in a coma. Given that she is not in a coma, I would appreciate it if the Minister of State would use her influence in respect of these matters. I am acutely aware that she has been travelling throughout the country attending meetings and that she has been warmly welcomed as a result of her common-sense approach. I would like her to relay to her colleagues the views expressed by ordinary people in respect of climate change.

I am grateful for having had the opportunity to contribute to this debate and I would appreciate it if the Minister of State took on board my strongly-held views on the matter to which it relates.

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