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

Not to kill the Taoiseach's comeback, I will make just one statement: forestry planting has fallen 70% short of Government targets for 2020. That is a damning indictment of this Government.

I will continue by finishing what I was saying about electricity. The Green Party and the Government are telling us all to use more electricity. At the same time, the Taoiseach knows we ran dangerously close to outages. I would be very surprised if we do not have electricity outages this coming winter because of Government policy and inaction.

New slurry-spreading dates have been suggested, meaning less time to spread slurry. A ban on soiled-water spreading during the closed period is also being suggested. These are more of the crazy suggestions being made by the Government. What set has the Taoiseach got on people living in rural Ireland? What set has he got on farmers? What set has he got on people involved in forestry? Why is it that there seems to be so much disconnection between the Government and the people? I would love to be standing up here today praising the Taoiseach from the sky down to the ground but I cannot because of the actions he is taking.

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