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

I too wish to raise the plight of the publicans in places such as Kilgarvan, Barraduff, Rathmore, Gneeveguilla, Scartaglin, and Cordal. Very few pubs are opened in Castleisland. Other places include Knocknagoshel and Brosna, Currow, Fieries and Ballyfinnane. So much of that entire countryside is still in lockdown, as such. There are two aspects to the issue. There are the publicans, whose doors have been shut for all these months, who were employing people and would be employing people. As has been said before, some of the publicans are over the age of 66 and they only have their pensions to pay for all the outlay they have in a public house such as electricity and insurance. Insurance bills do not go away. They are saddled with all these costs and they did not qualify for the Covid payment. All we asked is that their pension would be topped up by approximately €100 to bring it up to the €350 Covid payment, but that was refused, which was very unfair on people who were employing so many others and who add such value to the communities they serve.

For the ordinary man who wanted to go for a drink or two, the nearest place they could go was to Killarney, Tralee or Kenmare and they had to have a meal when they might have just wanted to have two pints. It meant that they were away for three or four hours to have a meal and a couple of pints. That is very unfair on all those people. We should remember that mental health is very important too. Many people have gone into themselves because they cannot go out and meet people. It is not just about drink; it is about conversation, meeting people and discussing the events of the day, the week or whatever else and keeping in touch with people. They have lost all of that. I really hope the Government and the public health team give the green light to these premises to open on 10 August. We will be very concerned if that does not happen. There have been murmurs in recent days that pubs being open could adversely affect schools. I do not see any sense in that.

Regarding flooding, we were very lucky to get the Flesk river cleared down as far as far as Gortahoosh, but the other half of it is still to be cleared, going into Killarney. Fleming's caravan site is prone to flooding. The Lake Hotel is also affected because the Flesk river flows out of the lake and the Laune river is blocked as far back as the Laune Bridge and the bay. This needs to be dredged and cleaned out. It cost the wonderful Huggard family a fortune and they were not covered by insurance because it has happened two or three times. I believe it cost them €2 million or €3 million to reopen the last time they were flooded. It is very unfair.

If one were to fill a glass with water and put a few stones into it, the water would spill out over the top. People can talk about climate change until the cows come home but if we do not clear out the rivers, then houses and roads will be flooded and bridges will be swept away. We need to allow farmers to clean the rivers like they always did. They are stopped from doing it now because of cross-compliance and they would lose their payments. What is happening is very unfair.

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