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

I am glad to get the opportunity to speak on the Bill. Other Members have asked about the €477 million. We need more clarity on how this figure came about and how much of it applies to Ireland. I sincerely hope farmers or people who could or would have benefited from funds like this will not be denied this money as a result of this or any other fraud. None of us in the House condone or support fraud and we are certainly behind any laws that would prevent same.

It was mentioned that dogs and pets are being stolen. I know one person who had a very valuable dog and he is fairly sure that it was stolen recently, or anyway he cannot find the dog, and it disappeared for no reason. I know too well about pets. We had a pony ourselves, Peig, and she was stolen. It gave my father desperate concern at the time because he used to go up and feed her every day and, all of a sudden, she was missing. It took three months or more to find her but we did find her, thankfully. I thank all those who were involved, including Detective Sullivan from Castletownbere, who played a massive role in ensuring we found the pony. I know the anxiety and the pressure that was on my father and my younger family members when that pony was stolen. I thank everyone who helped in the recovery and return of Peig, who we still have and take pride in having, and we see after her in the best way we can.

What springs to mind is the situation of old people being robbed in their homes and being so concerned about being robbed or broken into. When people move on in years, they are not as courageous when people drive into the yard and they are worried. I know one great friend of ours, and when someone drives the long road up to his house and he sees the car coming, he would go out the door of the house and into the outbuildings, and he would wait in the yard and peep from some angle until he was sure it was not thieves or blackguards, and that at least it was someone he knew or that they had a good reason for coming to visit him.

There are other types of what I would call fraud when a property is rendered of less value. What I am talking about is designations, whereby environmentalists and others seek to reduce the value of property by placing designations on land that farmers may have bought and paid for at high cost, or inherited, and their pride in their place could not be exceeded by anyone. Sadly, in some places, land has been designated for the hen harrier or for different reasons, and we hear that more of the countryside is going to be designated as special areas of conservation. This will definitely reduce the value of their properties.

There is also the situation where environmentalists want to stop us cutting turf. Turf is of value to the people who own the bog in that they can cut and save turf, and keep themselves warm. We hear of others suffering fuel poverty. What do they want these people to do? Do they want them to suffer fuel poverty as well, with the bog lying idle on their land? Will they stop them cutting it like they have done for generations and for centuries back, without doing any harm to themselves or anyone else? Their pride in their property could not be exceeded by any environmentalist.

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