Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Business Committee has been made a mockery of. There are five pieces of legislation being rushed through the House this week. I do not want to be repetitive but for several weeks, I have been calling for a debate on a vital sector, our third biggest industry in agriculture, namely, the pig industry. My requests have been forgotten and ignored. The House will rise for recess on Thursday week and we will forget about the pig farmers, many of whom I met at the weekend at Clonmel Show at the weekend. Some farmers who have been in the business for generations are leaving the sector. It is a shocking indictment of the Green Party, in particular, members of which are supposed to be so-called great democrats, that they have bulldozed these arrangements through the Houses. They are ringing us every second day of the week for pairing arrangements. We are not to be plucked off like that. We are the Opposition. We are not a fake opposition. The people are waiting in the long grass for the Government. We are opposed to the rushing of the business this week.

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