Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this. Our options are limited. First of all, the genius who came up with the idea that we could build a million houses in ten years needs to get a different adviser. Second, anybody who listened to the contributions at the Labour Party conference last weekend, at which reference was made to farmers changing and rewetting, needs to know the workers in the factories of Ireland will have no jobs if all this happens.

There is an option to vote to express confidence in the Government or not. I cannot vote confidence because, no offence to Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil, when the pup is pulling the dog around the field, something has to be done. There is a simple reason. When you see a Green Party Senator embarking on a judicial review regarding an outer bypass, there are 30 years on the go. There is no forestry programme in Ireland at the moment, and the Greens are the people who talk about reducing our carbon emissions. When the farmers of this country do not know their future one way or the other, it is an issue. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil once stood for middle Ireland and the farmers of Ireland, but unfortunately the Green Party seems to be dictating the pace at the moment. I will never let rural people down in my life. We have to stand up for what we believe in, for community and for how communities are built. Rewetting will probably involve 450,000 hectares around the country. Under the forestry programme, 2 million acres will be taken out. Most of this land is in the west. When you talk about organic production, as the Green Party wants to keep talking about, you should have a look at where most of the organic farmers are. They are in the same area where the land was shored and production is not as intensive, but now we are going to decimate them altogether. How could I stand up and vote for somebody who is doing that to those in the affected communities, which give so much to our economy? It is not just about Dublin; it is about every part of this country. We have to stand by the people who elect us, and that is what I will do today.

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