Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I missed the Minister of State's comment, but perhaps it is just as well.

To get back to the substantive issue dealt with in the Bill and CPOs, I remember Schering-Plough. It was a long time ago. I was a buachaill óg in school in An Chathair. Schering-Plough was to locate in Cahir, but the next thing was there were objections and it never came. I do not know whether it located in the Ceann Comhairle's county, but it somewhere else in the country. I did say a CPO was necessary in many areas, but it is a dangerous, powerful tool. Without proper respect for it and its use, it can be a devastating weapon with which to deal, as I saw in many areas. There are many areas where I want to have a bend on the road widened or something dangerous rectified. However, the county council will never invoke an CPO when it should do so. I am talking about life-saving measures and saw this happen again when the motorways were built. The trouble now is that the roads running through the Ceann Comhairle's county are being widened and we cannot fit in them while the works are being carried out. There is bedlam. I stood in yards, fields and haggarts and houses with farmers and their wives and families and could not stop CPOs, although I was not against progress. We cannot stop the building of motorways which we need. However, a CPO is a crude tool, but thankfully the motorways are now in place. However, we then started to put up fences. It was fascinating to see and great. However, the next thing was we came to an old hut which used to be a byre in the early 1900s. There was ivy growing around it and, lo and behold, a bat inside it. At least, that is what we were told it and the whole thing had to be ring-fenced and could not be touched. A roof was put up around it for about 15 months. It was hilarious. They then went somewhere else and found a frog and another big encampment was built around it. It was like something one would see in outer space. It ran all along the perimeter of the motorway and all the while development work carried on, with bulldozers and so on. A new bungalow that had been built about eight years previously - I was involved in the planning process - was demolished. It was got rid hastily and money was received - I know that - but that is neither here nor there. I am just saying a CPO as a tool of engagement is crude. It is needed in certain areas, but, as I said, councils will not use it when they have to clean rivers and free bridges. However, they will use it in the case of big projects.

I noted the case in County Kildare. I do not know anything about it, but I watched reports on it on the news and so on and felt sorry for the man involved. In respect of the same motorway, the senior engineer at the time, a Mayo man, Mr. O'Malley, made a promise to me. We had a fierce problem at the time with Traveller encampments on the outskirts of Cahir. We were told it was because we had had the experience of leaving open spaces and that they would not leave space anywhere for a caravan. Instead, swathes of ground and green areas had been left and we have had problems ever since. However, lo and behold, in the areas they did not use there are now 2, 3 and 4 acre sites. There is actually a very good community project which offers air support to bring people in an emergency to hospital by helicopter. Doctors are delivered by helicopter to the site of an emergency in remote areas which cannot be reached by ambulance. We are looking for a 3 or 4 acre site in Raheen, near Cahir, but we cannot deal with the county council or the National Roads Authority, NRA, which is worse than the IRA. We got rid of and decommissioned the IRA. Former Senator Martin Mansergh-----

See this speech in context