Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Tánaiste is a proponent of the nature restoration law. I have reservations regarding who will pay for the measures that will inevitably be necessary. I will give two examples. The first relates to agriculture. It is essential to pay farmers properly for their produce if you want them to produce to high environmental standards. I proposed looking at the cost of production and determining the minimum cost of production as part of the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine said we could not do that because we export to Great Britain. A gap of 60 cent per kilogram has opened between what farmers in Great Britain are paid and what farmers here are paid, even though the majority of our beef goes into that market. If the Government is not going to support farmers for what they are not going to be able to produce as a result of increased environmental standards, will the Government at least make sure they are adequately paid for what they are producing?

There is a marine component to the nature restoration law that is extremely important. If they are lucky enough, families from all over Ireland will be going on holiday and the really lucky ones will get to go to places like Spanish Point and Carrigaholt. However, there are a number of communities that lack sewerage infrastructure that are located beside special areas of conservation, SACs. The local authority has no responsibility and Irish Water is not interested, so there is no sewerage system in Carrigaholt or Spanish Point, which are situated next to SACs. These are communities that want and need to develop. What is the State going to do in the context of putting sewerage systems in place?

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