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

I thank Deputy Kerrane and Sinn Féin for giving us the opportunity to talk about this issue. I have no personal gripe with the Minister, but the Government has annoyed and upset many people in rural Ireland over the past fortnight. What has been done is unfair. The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, must now realise that what he is trying to do to the people of rural Ireland is blackguarding. He is here now. He has tried to blackguard the people of rural Ireland.

People can die of the cold as well as because of bad or smoky air or whatever else it is called. However, they are more likely to die of the cold this winter due to the cost of fuel and everything else. This is the time of year when people take out a sleán and go to the bog. The Minister must realise that China, Russia, Poland, Romania and the USA are digging mountains of coal at the present time. We are all under the one sky, whether the Minister realises that or not. The Minister is focusing his attention on poor people who go to bogs in places like Fybagh, Reaboy and Gneeveguilla or the bogs in Barna. The Minister is trying to stop those people from cutting a bit of turf and selling it to their neighbours, something they have traditionally done. The Minister is trying to take away their traditional rights and culture. He is wrong and should not be hurting ordinary hard-working people in rural Ireland who want a bag or box of turf. With the power he has, what he is trying to do to people is a disgrace.

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