Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I propose to share time with Deputy Mattie McGrath. This is a technical Bill, the purpose of which is to amend existing legislation to allow the transfer of functions relating to heritage under a number of enactments to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. These powers and functions come under the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, the Wildlife Act 1976, the Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2000 and the European Communities (Birds and Natural Habitats) Regulations 2011.

My expectation is that this Bill will further help to protect wildlife. That is welcome, especially in a week when the Government introduced a new farm scheme, the results-based environment-agri pilot programme, REAP, as a successor to the rural environment protection scheme, REPS. The REAP, which is being piloted in rural Ireland, exempts farmers who have heather on their farm from participating. The Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, is not responsible for agriculture but, in the name of God, how could a Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael Government, which also includes the Green Party, attack our wildlife in the way it has? I have very serious concerns for our wildlife arising out of this initiative and I ask the Minister of State to intervene personally, with his fellow Ministers.

This has happened before. When farmers were penalised for having gorse and heather on their land on that occasion, it led to a community group in west Cork taking legal action against the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. It is a terrible infliction on the people of rural Ireland when, whether we like it or not, those plants are present on most farms. At that time, I said to the people in the Department's office in Portlaoise that the decision would lead to an inferno throughout the country. Sadly, that turned out to be the case, as people had to burn their land because they were being seriously fined. If the REAP is introduced, I am afraid it will lead to the destruction of habitats. It is a very serious issue.

This Bill gives the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage new powers. I am concerned that those powers may not be exercised fairly. Two years ago, the then Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Madigan, struck out a democratic vote in a committee of the Oireachtas on heritage legislation. That vote would have seen verge-cutting dates extended, which would have helped with an issue that is a nightmare for rural communities. She did so with the stroke of a pen. I chaired the meeting of the committee, of which I was Vice Chairman, in which the vote was clearly carried that the verge-cutting season should be extended a month both ways. That was a fabulous provision that would have given people a chance to have safe roads. However, the then Minister, Deputy Madigan, attended some meeting or other, after which she came in and struck out that provision with the stroke of a pen. My worry is that if we give too much power to people, power is taken from this democratic Dáil. I am very concerned to ensure that does not happen in this instance. There is nothing worse than having overgrown verges, which are a great danger to parents travelling with children in their cars. The overgrowth causes accidents on rural roadways. I said to the then Minister at the time that she was surrounded by tar and chipping and it was lovely for her that she did not understand how it is to live in a rural community and have to cut verges.

I want to talk about the broadcasting aspect of the Bill. The State must change how our main broadcaster works and the monopoly on funding that exists. RTÉ commands the full licence fee, which gives it tens of millions of euro, but will not put out a fair and balanced programme one day after another. In its reports on the climate action Bill that went through the Dáil last week, RTÉ had speaker after speaker on television and radio, all of whom were "Yes" people. The Rural Independent Group is the only group in the House that has raised concerns about the provisions of that Bill and we were not allowed a minute to voice them on any programme. This raises a very serious question about the fairness of our national broadcaster on this and other issues. I have been inundated with calls, emails and texts from a public furious at the way RTÉ has been allowed to carry on.

Today is a turning point. The Rural Independent Group will make sure we call out this disgraceful carry-on. The only way that the tables will turn in a fair and distributive way is if the television licence money is spread out to other media providers, including Virgin Media, Gript and local radio stations and newspapers. The situation of local radio stations has been raised before in the House. In Cork, we have C103, RedFM and 96FM. They are fabulous radio stations that get very little of the funding they need from the State. We also have local newspapers, including the Southern Starand The Echo. Perhaps the television licence should be renamed the television, radio and newspaper licence and the fees distributed fairly. The State's money should be spent in a fair and proper way as we move forward. We cannot continue to fund a State broadcaster that decides to keep out one side of a story and has no fair balance.

I will finish by talking about sculptures. We have some fabulous sculptures in west Cork, including one in Crookhaven. The Ceann Comhairle said he would like to go to Waterford. We would be delighted to see him down in west Cork, in Mizen Head, the Beara Peninsula, Clonakilty or any of the beautiful places there. The Taoiseach and many others like to swim there. The Ceann Comhairle would be most welcome to come and see our sculptures.

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