Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to speak on these issues today. The Minister of State heard me state my belief the last time that we are not standing up for our people in Europe. We run over to Europe to these pre-Councils and post Councils. At the pre-Council it is, "Yes, sir. How many bags full? Three bags full, sir. That's okay, sir". Like nodding donkeys, that is what we are doing. We accept anything they pass over in the EU. We heard from Deputy Cahill earlier, about what is happening in other countries regarding farming and the ignoring of some of the crazy rules we have here. We come back with all the rules in the world and our geniuses in the Departments then add three or four statutory instruments onto them.

It is time the Irish people were represented properly. Why can we not act like the premiers in some countries, like Viktor Orbán, the Prime Minister of Hungary? He said the journey ahead is fraught with challenges, particularly in the financial realm. Prime Minister Orbán has vehemently expressed his opposition to providing additional funds to Ukraine and he seeks unanimous approval from the 27 EU members for this decision. That is no small feat. Fair dues to him. We are blindly supporting Ukraine and now we have a horrific, horrible war in Gaza and Lebanon. The attack by Hamas was despicable but the response from Israel is worse. It is shocking.

The Tánaiste, Deputy Martin, wants to change our neutrality and get rid of the triple lock. He held his little roadshow and he got his answer and will get his answer. We should be using our voices as an independent people, as a proud neutral country, always helping but not involved in wars and not sending money for helmets, coats, training and the removal of land mines. We might as well be there, shooting with guns. Let us keep our noses out of it. As a neutral country, we will get more respect and the people of those countries will respect us.

We have the same issue with migration. We heard the contribution from Poland yesterday on the so-called COP-ed out summit over there, with hundreds of NGO hangers-on and planeloads of people from every country. There is no talk about carbon emissions and the carbon footprint of that roadshow, with thousands of NGOs, or hangers-on as I like to call them, because that is what many of them are. They are costing a fortune but they are running in front of the Government, telling it what to do, what to legislate, which people to neglect, who to let into our country and who to keep out. They have too much power. The NGOs are costing this country €6 billion a year. They are making policy, writing policy and dictating policy. The sooner they are disbanded - at least half of them - the better.

To get back to the other countries like Poland and Hungary, how come they can close their borders, take a certain number of people, have restrictions and not have a free-for-all like we have here? How come they are talking about the cost of the Ukraine war and they have now forced a situation where there has to be unanimity of the 27 countries to give more funding to Ukraine? We have to call a halt somewhere. We are now huge net contributors to the EU budget. As I said, it is imperative that we try to get value for money.

There is the issue of the blackguarding that our farmers are getting, as well as emissions rates being lowered without taking account of the sequestration that farmers in this country are already doing because we have no capability to do it. We then have the EPA, a legal eagle junta - a quango. It is quasi-legal but it is going around, demonising farmers and ignoring the county councils with regard to septic tanks, industry and, especially, Irish Water. We are polluting our rivers so it is easy to blame the farmers, and everyone blames the farmers and says they are not clean. That is a scandal. It is time the EPA was brought to book. It is a State organisation. It should be honest and transparent. In my own place, it was to come to inspect a river but it will not. It is phoney and irresponsible. It published a map recently which showed there are no polluting plants in Tipperary. I could bring the EPA to 90 septic tanks in south Tipperary. It is getting paid and it is responsible. I am demanding to meet the EPA. I am demanding that it be held to account and that it be fair and not demonise farmers and rural people. Those people have invested hugely in trying to mitigate against pollution and other issues. No farmer wants to cause pollution but the State is doing it here and a State organisation is wrongly blaming the farmers and country people. That is totally wrong.

It is time that we settled ourselves in Europe as a neutral country that represents our people, not “Yes, sir. Right, sir. Two bags full, sir. Maybe three bags for Christmas.” Nodding donkeys would do better than the Government. It should stand up and represent our people. Our MEPs are the same to allow this. They are going around with their roadshows for the elections, telling us what they did. They did nothing for us over there in the last five years with regard to the blackguarding we are getting about emissions and everything else. We are the best boys in the class. The bata should be taken out to give a few little slaps to an lámh. Then the lads might wake up and they would not be saying “Yes, sir. Right, sir. Three bags full, sir.”

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