Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As the Ceann Comhairle knows, I have been asking at the Business Committee for weeks to have a full and comprehensive debate on agriculture, including the pig industry – you name it. The Taoiseach said earlier that he believed we would come back relaxed after Easter. We would be only for the Mutt and Turf Show and the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, talking on every radio station about locking up grannies and anybody who gave a bag of turf to their neighbours. We need a full debate on agriculture and the attack going on in rural Ireland. The Taoiseach seems to think it is doing grand and he acknowledged that he burned turf himself, but we want a debate on this. It is the Government that created this mess. The Tánaiste said banning turf was like taking wine off the people in France, which is kind of a nice catchphrase, and the Taoiseach said he would pour oil on troubled waters. Then we heard some expert on RTÉ the other day saying we were burning wet turf. With a gallon of petrol, you could not burn a sod of wet turf. The Government is on a different planet. We need a debate here on agriculture and all things rural.

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