Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I know. I am not saying the Minister of State's county does not one, but so do we. I am just saying beidh aonach amárach i gContae an Chláir. There will be also a mart and an after-mart. This wonderful community project is located in Cork and serves all of Munster and Leinster. It wants to have a base somewhere in east Cork or south Tipperary, but it cannot secure engagement with the buachalans and the Travellers. The land is useless and no rent is accruing from it, although the horses among the buachalans are shaded from the heat on summer days. There is not even a water supply. It is an ideal site, but we cannot secure engagement. Therefore, I am jurging caution because this is a problem with the agencies. When they have too much power, they get an inch and take a mile. It is crude terminology, but they have the courts system behind them. That is why I am opposed to the Bill and I am supporting Deputy Clare Daly. I think she has tabled an amendment.

We need to make hay slowly. We need to understand the little people - na daoine beaga - who back in the 1900s - in 1918, 1920 and 1921 - fought to free this country. They also fought in the War of Independence for our young democracy. We cannot have these powerful agencies that have no respect for people's rights. Land use is a very emotive issue. I have no problem with progress, but we must have full respect for people's rights. As I said, when birds, bats and frogs have more autonomy than householders, it is a sad day, especially now when we have a housing crisis. The houses to which I was referring, including the new bungalow that had only been built ten years previously, had to be flattened. The people who owned them were compensated and relocated.

The Government will pass the Bill, based on the comments I have heard, but we might regret it. We cut our cloth according to measure and pay the bridge as we go over. This is serious and I am not making light of it. I am just saying I am opposed to giving IDA Ireland more powers without restrictions and accountability. We have no accountability from TII and we did not have it for the NRA. We do not have it for so many other agencies, such as the HSE, and the mess we have with €17 billion being spent with no accountability. All of these agencies are a buffer zone between Ministers and Teach Laighean anseo. When we table a question to a Minister it is passed on to these agencies and they are not accountable. They tell us it is not in their remit to answer questions to a Dáil Deputy or anybody else. Where are we going? By all means have this but have curtailments on it and, above all, have respect and understanding for the ordinary little people. I am not happy with the Bill because it needs to be teased out further and examined carefully.

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