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

I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate. The Bill, in consolidating and modernising legislation on the exploration and development of minerals, is to be welcomed. Deputy Mattie McGrath is right that it has been a long time in the making, but it is better it comes before us now rather than later. We must have regularisation and the ground rules set out for future years.

One deep concern I have is with regard to the mines that have closed. I have always said that one of the most valuable and important things any small community can have is a quarry, be it a stone quarry or a gravel quarry. This is not just because of the jobs and spin-off it creates. If there is a mine or quarry in an area that produces materials that are needed locally, whether for the local authority, young people building houses or our farming community, it is an invaluable resource.

It upsets me very much that through planning regulations we have lost so many quarries in small communities in the past six or seven years. It is a tragedy.

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