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

Is the Government going to paralyse the working people and farmers? Is this talking shop going to be about how to do that? When we get flooded the story is that it is climate change and we will do nothing about it. What the Government is not doing anything about is allowing farmers to clear the rivers. Let us be honest about it. Water has to rise if the rivers are blocked and choked, which they are right around the country. Cross compliance means farmers are not allowed to touch a river.

They will lose their headage payments, which means they will lose the bread from their tables. This is what is causing the rivers to be choked. None of them has been touched for the past 20 years.

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