Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

They are not going well. The mushrooms are not going well. I go up there an odd time so I know what is going on. I am surprised. Is the Minister too far away from it now? She has been removed with her State car and she does not understand what is going on.

Rural people will work for themselves. They are not looking for handouts, they are looking for fair play and equity. The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross, tells me €130 million has been applied for under the sports capital grants programme. I assure the Minister that more than half of this is from country clubs and ordinary people who do their day's work and go out and get involved in voluntary work in communities. The country would stop, particularly rural Ireland and the cities, if volunteers withdrew. What do we have here? The Government is blackguarding them day and night with more regulations from the EU and statutory instruments. I was here with the Minister of State, Deputy Kyne, last night and he accused me of raising my voice. I was furious. He brought a Bill to the House relating to people who were prosecuted by public officials when the latter did not have the legal right to do so. That was wrong and the law was defunct.

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