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

I wish the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee, well in her new role. We are sorry to lose her from her last Ministry because she had a lot of input into the fair deal scheme that we are trying to get for the farming community. She understood it well. We only hope that the new Minister of State will be as conversant with it as she was. We wish her all the very best for the future.

We are elected to this House by the people who vote for us to represent them. There are small businesses in Castleisland, Killarney, Tralee and Killorglin in Kerry which are very worried about the reduction in the value of sterling. Already, their incomes and products are netting 10% or 12% less than they were before the Brexit vote. I am sorry our new Taoiseach has left the Chamber. I only hope that he did not leave because only the smaller groups or parties are here now and that when he had dealt with the larger ones, he decided to go. That would be wrong. He should recognise that we are elected also by the people who vote for us and who need their complaints and problems listened to.

These small businesses are very worried that if the value of sterling persists at this low rate for a long time, and it is predicted that it could last for 20 years, it would have a savage adverse effect on the Twenty-six Counties. Those businesses are making no apology for saying it. Much of the talk in this House over the last number of months has been about making a special case for Northern Ireland. We are elected here to make a case for the Republic of Ireland, the Twenty-six Counties. In that regard, it is said that much traffic will go across the Border for cheaper goods. Down as far as a straight line from Galway to Dublin, and even down further than that, it will have a very negative impact and all the traffic will be inclined to go up to the North of Ireland. The counties in the South will suffer an awful lot. Those businesses are asking how that is going to be addressed. I mentioned this last night. They even suggested that Northern Ireland should have to join the euro. After all, if the Border is going to be at the ports, we will not have a level playing field with the sterling being so low in the Six Counties. We would lose much of our custom. Counties and people would suffer accordingly.

With regard to the farming community, around the time of the election, the price for cattle dropped €100 per head. It is so volatile now that it dropped €100 per head when there was uncertainty and when Ms May lost so much of her vote in the setting up of a new government. We need to address those issues. I hope the Minister, Deputy Coveney, will do his best as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade. The Government's team and our new Taoiseach will have to address all these issues. When one goes out the gate this evening, everything looks grand and rosy. There are tower cranes all over the place. However, the farther one goes towards the Atlantic the worse things are getting. Young people are coming to the greater Dublin area to work and are leaving rural Ireland behind. Let us take the Leader programme for example. There are 18 different stages of approval. Rural Ireland is being forgotten about and it is getting worse. As much as we have talked in this Chamber, it is deteriorating by the day. On those matters, such as the Leader funding, not a penny has been spent yet.

I have gone into Deputy McGrath's time. More emphasis needs to be placed on rural Ireland when we are talking to the EU in the coming days.

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