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

The real worry is the Minister believes what he is just after saying. I have 60 seconds to take apart his argument and I will do so. The first thing businesses in Kerry will mention to me is the high energy cost and the costs associated with carrying out their businesses. What has the Minister done to help them? Nothing. With regard to tourism, the Minister neglects the fact that people have to fly and drive to arrive in Kerry to enjoy it. We cannot fall out of the sky. What has the Minister done for those people? He has done nothing.

He should not talk to me about agriculture. He has this new phrase: the "stabilisation" of the national herd. The very good man on his other side, the Minister, Deputy Coveney, told people to get into milk. What is the Minister, Deputy Ryan, telling them now? He is telling them they will have to reduce their herds after working so hard and borrowing money to improve their milking parlours and to buy and lease more land. What are they being told now? They are being told to reduce their herd.

The Minister should not talk to me about what he has done for horticulture. I have already covered how businesses have to import the peat now that is so important to what they do everyday. The Minister should not talk to me about energy. We have seen what he has done in the programme in the Government has done with regard to Shannon LNG. He shut that project down. It was in the previous programme for Government in 2016. He is telling everybody to use more and more electricity. What has he done about providing it? He has shut down the God damn power stations we had to make electricity. We are bordering on outages now. In 60 seconds, I have put the Minister back and I would like for him to now answer me back. He need not be talking gobbledegook. I will again only liken him to Michael Jackson in Neverland.

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