Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The issue of housing is one of the key issues the Department can address. An agriculture scheme was brought out recently whereby a small amount of Government money was used to leverage a greater loan at a lower interest rate that people could access. One of the problems is that many of the people who own these properties cannot get a loan anywhere because they are already in debt for other properties they may have. They may have a house somewhere else or have perhaps inherited a property in a town but they can do nothing with it - it is a liability. We need some mechanism outside of the formal structure. The banks will not give them money. Some way has to be found to help those people to get that going.

Another issue I wanted to bring to the attention of the Minister is the issue of alternative sectors, especially in agriculture. These require co-operation across Departments and agencies. One of the things we are all talking about is plastics and the green economy. We hear how plastics are poisoning the country. If we are going to change that we need to come up with biodegradable plastic. Farmers have an opportunity to grow the product and turn it into plastic but that will not happen by a handful of farmers getting together and deciding to do it. They need to have a sector developed. The various agencies will have to come together to set that up. It cannot happen by our waiting to see whether it will happen or by leaving it to the markets. Someone somewhere has to pull it together.

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