Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for the invitation. I will set up a meeting for his Department to speak to the people who brought this about and made sure it was a great day in Athenry on a Saturday two weeks ago when farmers came in with their wool and it was packed and sent up to the county of the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, to be used in Donegal Yarns. It demonstrates that simplicity is often key. We should not over-complicate this.

The Minister of State mentioned that insulation is a wool by-product. The price of insulation at the moment reflects its status as a scarce commodity. We need to work on this issue fairly rapidly. We do not have to reinvent the wheel. The approach to which I refer is currently being used across the world in the context of insulation. We need to take best international practice and support the setting up of the industry. That will create the demand and set the price within this country and keep the material here. There is also the fact that fabrics produced in Galway are being made in China and other places.

See this speech in context