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

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the programme for Government. The programme is a great working document for the next five years. The Government is deeply committed to doing its level best in a very workperson-like way to help all sectors of society. My brother, Deputy Danny Healy-Rae, and I were glad to have participated in those negotiations. I thank the spokespersons from both of the leading parties for the genuine commitment they gave, including long days and long nights, to put together a good programme. I believe it is a good programme for Government.

There will be Exchequer returns that will be positive. Maybe for the first time in a long time, we will be able to make decisions. For example, I am glad about the decision relating to carers. There is nothing more important than people who take care of people in their homes. The fact that the means test is going to be completely looked at in a positive way in addressing that anomaly where people were not getting the full recognition for the excellent service they were giving in taking care of their loved relatives in their own homes. The best place for any person to be is in their own home. The programme for Government recognises that. Whether it is in education, agriculture, industry or infrastructure, we are committed with this programme to help the people of Ireland in a positive way. Industries such as tourism, foreign direct investment, business and keeping small businesses open are all important. I will touch on small businesses again shortly. From an agricultural point of view, we have to work with the farmers. The programme for Government recognises that farmers are not a problem; they are the solution. I mean that. They are the solution for our environment into the future. We must remember the farmers are the custodians of the environment. They are the people that cherish our small family farms.

I was privileged today to have been with 300 or 400 students in UCD who were having their careers day. Some 40 or 50 employers were in UCD eyeing up the talent. The talent that was in UCD today will be the CEOs of the future. They are going to be the leaders of industry and agriculture in the future. There are 4,000 people working in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. I have no doubt that many of the young students I met today will be working with the Department. They might be in this House and they might become Ministers in the future.

They are bright, young and intelligent and they come from great family farms. I met people from small farms around the countryside and it was a privilege to meet them and see the enthusiasm they have for their work. I recognise the sponsors of today because careers day is a very important day and I thank them. I thank Agriland and the Irish Farmers' Journal, which I would call the bibles of agriculture in Ireland because they are there to cover the events. They too recognise the youth of Ireland who have an interest in and flair for agriculture. I was privileged to meet a man today who a number of years ago left UCD. He had no acre of land and today is milking 250 cows because he is using his brain. He saw opportunities, such as older people who were leasing out land. He has expansion plans and a model he is working to. I have no doubt in my mind that young man will be milking 1,000 cows within five years. That is what we want.

While recognising people like him, we have to remember his uncles and aunties who might have a small farm in Mayo or around the country. They too are integral to the future and to the respectability of our produce. That is why I welcome the role of the Minister of State, Deputy Grealish. He will be the ambassador and salesperson for our agricultural produce, whether from horticulture, dairy, beef, poultry or pigmeat. Our way of farming in Ireland is organic. We do farming and the production of farm goods better than anyone else. We do it more cleanly and efficiently. Our product is second to none. We can go anywhere around the world. People in media might complain of people in government going abroad for St. Patrick's weekend. I welcome the fact they are going because it is not twiddling their thumbs they are; they are going out to represent us. When I say "us", I mean people in opposition and in government. They are flying the flag and meeting with employers, customers and the Irish diaspora around the world. It is important to fly the flag for Ireland. I passionately believe in that. It is a terrible important job of work to do.

With regard to agriculture, forestry and horticulture, things have been quite literally turned upside down. We have many thousands of hectares of forestry that are knocked at the moment. Not only was there windblow, but there was an unusual thing connected to the storm event we had. We had forestry that was split. I mean that trees did not blow over but split maybe a third of the way up, which is where the saw wood heads into the boxwood. We have had awful incidents and have lost a life already.

The message has to go out clear from the Government to any person with forestry damaged by the storm. I immediately - as in half an hour after being appointed - set up a task force which has been working diligently with the forestry and horticultural sectors. We have worked diligently to ensure we change and make more user-friendly the way people extract timber. However, it is an awful dangerous job. Our forests at present are dangerous places to be. I have a €2.5 million budget for farm safety, which is my direct responsibility. We have to send out a message to people. If you have a forest that is down, engage professional foresters and seek advice and guidance but please, especially older people, you do not have to be going into these forests yourselves. We have been gathering satellite image over the past 14 days and have a handle on this now. We are getting a total acreage of what exactly is damaged.

I will provide a statistic that it is important for everyone in the Dáil to know. In their constituencies, Deputies will have people asking how they should go about licensing and what is their next step. The first thing to tell them is to be safe and mind themselves. I really mean that and cannot emphasise it enough. We did a snapshot of 435 forests affected by the storm. If you take the people with a licence for clearfell already or a licence to thin forestry, they account for something in the region of 56.5% of those 435 forests. They have permission from my Department to go in tomorrow with contractors and extract that timber. While 435 is not the total number, it is representative. If that follows through to the rest of the forests, the owners of many thousands of acres that are down have permission from the Department to extract that timber. Our next problem will be getting enough contractors. We do not have enough machinery in the country. I have instructed officials from my Department to make contact with people abroad who will have the wherewithal to assist with the work. It is a big programme of work and is like a race against time. We cannot leave the product on the ground for too long because it will lose value.

Another message I want to give to the people relates to our sawmills. I was glad to bring representatives from the sawmills around the table yesterday. They assured me they will not in any way try to take advantage of the situation.

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