Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Is that what they are? We do not know anything about them. Is that it, so? Is there to be a secret society? The Green Party is always on about the developers having too much power. Consider the power An Taisce has as a prescribed organisation that has to be notified of every planning application. Of course, where there are listed buildings and protected structures, An Taisce is entitled to act. We are for the entitlement of any citizen to object if a proposed development would impede upon him or her.

There was a determination a couple of years ago such that people could object to An Bord Pleanála if they had objected earlier, provided the proposal objected to impacted upon them. I have no problem with anybody objecting if there is an impact on them, but well-heeled people sitting behind computers are lodging objections to developments all over the country. Tá fear i gContae Chorcaí who has lodged hundreds of objections from a desktop. This is where we need things tidied up. We need to have An Taisce accountable to the people, not a sacred cow like the Rock of Cashel, which cannot be moved or questioned.

I saw what happened in Tipperary, my own county, where houses were built hanging out into the lake. Who owns them? If anybody else, such as locals, wants to get a house, there are objections left, right and centre. It is disgraceful. This is far removed from what An Taisce was set up for. I am sure there were good reasons for setting it up in 1963 and 1964 but not for the way it is behaving now.

Tá an Teachta Bríd Smith imithe anois. How dare she insult and contradict a wonderful, impeccable, hard-working Deputy from Offaly? Does she know where Banagher is? Was she ever in it? Did she Google it this morning on her way here in her diesel-guzzling van with Barney in the back? That is what she drives. She texted us all about it. Deputy Carol Nolan is entitled to quote a former MP or anybody else. She does her research impeccably with her assistant, David. We are here now and we are being called the far right and everything else, but we are representing the people. We are Teachtaí Dála na hÉireann, as Tiobraid Árann, Ciarraí, Luimneach, iarthar Chorcaí agus Uíbh Fhailí, and are entitled to represent the people. The problem here is that the Green Party is not representing the people; it is representing an elite group of its supporters. They will find out where they are when they go knocking on doors next week or in the couple of weeks to come. They are an elite group and they object to meaningful projects to allow social promotion and allow people to live and have families in rural Ireland. They are against everything in rural Ireland.

The capital is choked up. Deputy Healy-Rae or somebody else mentioned the airports. Why do we have to have all the planes entering Dublin, a choked city? Why is Deputy Ó Cathasaigh not supporting Waterford Airport? Of course, Shannon and Cork airports are totally underutilised. The tail is wagging the dog. An Taisce comprises a group of well-heeled individuals who have a position of power. As I have said, they have important roles and they are very good at them, but they have widely abused their power and it is time they were reined in.

The backbenchers of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and, indeed, other parties, including the Labour Party – Members from the Regional Group did not come in at all – do not have the power to tackle a pernicious problem that is stopping people from getting houses for themselves. When we heard from Sinn Féin, it did not know whether it was for or against this legislation, but that is not unusual for it anymore. It does not know where it is; it is on a spinning top. Those opposite want to stop people from building houses on their own land in their own communities.

I met a farmer in Dundrum two weeks ago. He has three sons and a daughter and a grand-sized farm but none of the four could get planning permission to build on their own land. In the name of God, this is happening in a housing crisis with 15,000-plus homeless. Then the Government wants to bring everyone in from Timbuktu and all over the world and flood them into Ireland - bring them all in - with no healthcare, school places or anything for them. What has gone wrong with those opposite?

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