Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister referred a moment ago to all the different things he brought in through CAP and for farmers a number of months ago. Could he tell me now why Macra na Feirme members marched to the Dáil today? The boards they had in front of them stated “McConalogue, Hackett and Heydon – Family Farms for Sale”. That was on their placards. The Minister said he had helped to put in place all these different funds for those same farmers and had increased them, but he forgot that they want to work with the Government for the future of farming, which includes the environment. The Minister is now deciding about the rewetting of land, and he wants to do it just like that.

They want to work with the Minister to improve environmental impact. Why did Macra na Feirme members have to walk 79 km with their placards to say the Government is putting their farms up for sale, while the Minister comes in and says the Government was introducing the Bill for young farmers months ago? If that was the case, they would not be here today. What the Government has done has not worked. It has not listened to the farmers. The Minister said he met farmers' representatives today. Why did he not go out to meet the large group of farmers who were outside Leinster House? He met one or two farmers in an environment he could control. Why did he not go out to meet the young men and women who walked through the night, with their hundreds of stories and blisters on their feet, to stand outside Leinster House today? Does the Minister think they would have done that if they thought anything he has done would improve the future of farming in Ireland? They certainly do not think it will and they are the ones who are doing it day in, day out. They are not in the bubble in which the Minister is living.

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