Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for being here and warmly welcome Dan Brennan, his family and friends and representatives of the farm organisations.

Some facts are in dispute but this is what we know. The Brennan family ran a successful farm that was considered to be top-notch by anyone who ever saw it. Then problems began to emerge at the same time as activities taking place in a nearby factory. Animals got sick. Milk yield dramatically reduced. Biodiversity was destroyed. Plant life was wiped out. As the output of the adjoining factory intensified, the problems got worse and more intense. When the Brennan family complained and raised issues and concerns, they were told to varying degrees that either it was their fault, in once instance, or that the problems pertained to disease and not pollution. However, when animals that were severely underweight and severely under-yielding were taken from Dan Brennan's farm to a separate setting, their health improved dramatically. Throughout this time when all these issues were prevailing, Dan Brennan and his family were striving for answers. That is not the action of a deficient farmer. That is not the action of someone who is irresponsible. It is the action of someone who is desperately trying to find answers to what is happening on his farm.

Throughout that time, farm organisations, independent experts, academics, farm advisers and, from my reading, every objective person who analysed this found Dan Brennan was an excellent farmer. Indeed, farm leaders, as Deputy Cahill mentioned, and farming journalists staked their credibility on defending Dan Brennan as a farmer and arguing for answers. However, for some reason, the Department refused to accept all those facts. All those reports and work by various agencies as described by the Minister have been considered deficient. These are people who the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine considers to be experts when evidence is being sought. Then in December 2008, the brick factory closed and, literally overnight, farm conditions immediately began to improve to such a point that within a relatively short time, the farm again became a model of best practice.

Throughout the time since, Dan Brennan has fought like hell for the truth. I was not aware for much of that time of the efforts that he and others who were advocating for him had gone to. The first time I became aware of the case was in November 2022 when Dan Brennan and others associated with the case came before the joint committee. I have never been as struck by evidence that was put before the committee and I was pleased that the committee decided to bring forward this report. Since we brought forward the report, the initial response of the Department was to dismiss it entirely. In December, the month after the report was commissioned, then Deputy Kathleen Funchion, who is now a Member of the European Parliament, asked by way of oral question that these issues be independently investigated. The Minister refused. In November 2023, Deputies Cahill, Fitzmaurice, McGuinness and I raised a Topical Issue matter to ask questions and call for an independent examination. That request was refused as it has been in subsequent Topical Issue matters since.

Today the Minister has committed to ensuring there is an independent review of all these circumstances and I absolutely welcome that. I appeal to him not to take the goodness out of it. He has taken an important step forward today. I ask him to sit down with Dan Brennan and the leaders of the IFA and the ICMSA to agree how that independent review will take place, how it will operate and function. With no disrespect to any of the Department officials, it is clear from the evidence we heard that the Department has not been up to the standard we expect in getting answers. I therefore appeal to the Minister to sit around a table with those people to agree a terms of reference for this and allow us to get to the point where we get to the truth.

I was struck when I was talking to a young person in my office, trying to explain the complexity of these issues in a short time, whose retort was to ask me to imagine a situation where a farmer was accused of causing widespread destruction to wildlife and plant life for many years, and any time an examination was done, it was said that it was not the farmer's fault at all. Then all of a sudden the farm stopped operating and the problems solved themselves immediately. We would not all be allowed to pretend it never happened. This House would be in uproar trying to get answers. It should be the same in this case, despite the fact that the factory closed in 2008 and whatever has happened. Anyone who has spent more than 30 seconds with Dan Brennan knows the pain, hurt and anger that any farmer would feel if accused of being a bad farmer or of being somehow responsible for what happened on this farm. We should be equally as adamant that the truth must come out in this case.

I welcome the Minister's statement, especially, according to the language he used, that he will seek an independent review, ensure it is a truly independent review and that the terms and operation of that review are agreed beforehand so that we can all have confidence that at the end of the day, we might finally get a step closer to the truth.

See this speech in context