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

I thank the Minister of State very much. Could I ask her, her Department and the Government to use their discretion in the same way as it has been used in France? I would call it a matter of using common sense. Having looked at a snail and a cow, could the Minister of State please tell me what the comparison is? To me, there is a fair difference.

The Minister of State's four-minute reply totally avoided the two main elephants in the room regarding snails. First, a snail, in the Irish Government’s eye, is the equivalent of a cow. Second, when we want to process snails, we have to send them to Greece, bring them back and then send them out again. Whoever put a lot of time into writing the Minister of State’s response chose to ignore those two facts. Those are the two biggest obstacles facing snail farmers in Ireland. If anybody were to listen to the reply, they would have to say to themselves, “My goodness, isn’t it so hard to do business in Ireland, and isn’t it so hard for a farmer who wants to try to do something different with the land he or she owns." Among the words that came jumping out at me – besides "terrestrial gastropods", which the Minister of State used instead of just saying "snails" – were "enforcement", "control" and "regulation". It is not that the people concerned do not want regulation; we should remember that there are none better than farmers and enterprising people to do their business. The 30 people involved are highly responsible people. Would you not love to see 300 or 3,000 people involved? How in the name of goodness could any other group of people – be it a couple or individuals – say they are going to diversify and have a go at snail farming? If they think the Government is going to be silly enough to classify the snail as a cow, where would they be going? The Minister of State should please engage with Escargot. The chairperson is Deirdre O’Connor. I ask the Minister of State and her officials to liaise with those concerned and tell them that the Government is prepared to help and work for them.

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