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

I thank the Minister of State for the reply. However, again, considering this rewetting will have a desperate effect on people who drained their lands and have successfully farmed them for many years. Take the people of north Kerry. It is a vibrant farming community and they have great hurling teams. Kerry has the best football team in the country most years, but we also have massive hurlers and hurling clubs in north Kerry, who are proud of their tradition and villages such as Liscahane, Ballyduff, Abbeydorney, Ballybunion and all those places. They are massively proud of their places. Any proposal for rewetting or increasing the level of water in this area would have a disastrous effect on farmers and on the community's ability to exist going into the future. It cannot be considered.

The farming community are the custodians of the land. They are proud of their places. They want to better them and hand them on to the next generation in better shape than they got them. They do not need to be dictated to by An Taisce, BirdWatch Ireland or any of these people about how to run or operate their farms. They value biodiversity more than anyone else. However, to ask them to rewet their land is absolutely criminal. The people on my side of the country in south Kerry worked hard over the years to drain their places. To have anyone here, in Europe or anywhere else deciding that they will or will not rewet their lands is unfair. I ask the Minister of State, in government, to ensure this does not happen. He will play his role. He is in the Department of Transport. Even though he is in Dublin, he must speak up for the rural side of the country because it is vital to the well-being of the country, especially the farmers of Kerry.

See this speech in context