Michael Finucane (Fine Gael)

It is interesting to listen to all strands of thought on this issue. Two themes seem to be emerging, one of which relates to the praise lavished on the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government for his caring approach to rural Ireland. I refer particularly to his recent announcement on one-off housing. Senator Moylan said farmers could now sell their sites and allow planning permission to go ahead, thus earning well-earned revenue to supplement their income. He also said we were at the crossroads in farming. To a certain degree there is a contradiction involved in a situation when farmers have to sell sites in order to remain financially solvent; that contradicts the suggestion that farming is going extremely well.

I do not want to bore Members with statistics, but the dairy industry is the most important component of agriculture in my county. Any dairy farmer will tell you that very few sectors of the community would embrace the income figures they had in 2003, which are at the same level as in 1989. In parallel with that situation the supermarkets are making a 40% profit on milk, so is it any wonder there are concerns about supermarket price wars? The automatic target is milk, as a possible loss leader within the supermarkets.

Can anyone tell me that that loss of income is good progress for a dairy farmer? I do not know if Members have spoken to their local planning officials since the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government's announcement of new terms for planning. My local planning officials have told me that, if anything, the new terms make matters even more difficult. For example, in the past if one was building a house in a cul-de-sac or a road with a certain number of bends, one was allowed flexibility in removing a hedgerow on one's property. If one studies Deputy Cullen's statement, one sees he is opposed to hedgerows being removed, therefore one does not have the chance of getting an agreement between neighbouring farmers on improving sight distances for bends. That has been cited to me as a deterrent in the new rules.

In our county we have a pressure zone outside Limerick city where a condition was embodied in a planning permission that one had to occupy the property for five years. According to the Minister, that period will now be seven years. Based on the numbers of permissions in past years I do not see a dramatic increase in the number of planning permissions in my county. Refusals are still occurring.

Senator Moylan mentioned the nitrates directive and I agree with him on farmers' concerns about the water supply. However, the reality is that the greatest percentage of planning permission refusals in any county arises because of the percolation qualities of sites. An environmental health officer produces a report stating that a development is not suitable because of the soakage involved or because there are high water tables. If the nitrates directive and so on are the reasons for rejection, can the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government tell the planning authorities to overrule environmental health officers because they have to give planning permissions in those areas? I doubt it.

To a certain degree this announcement was a bit of a con job, because the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government had to respond to the wishes of the Taoiseach. Last year Fianna Fáil had a session in Sligo at which concerns in rural Ireland about one-off houses were aired, so I would not applaud Deputy Cullen on this issue. Many Fianna Fáil people have said it is great that Dúchas is gone. When it comes to looking at something from an heritage point of view it appears the last arbiter is the Minister. If one looks at the last election and the amount of funding which that Minister got from an industry which was publicised as such, I often wonder when a Minister is talking about a development which has a heritage aspect and where he is the final arbiter, what will be his final decision. If anything there was an over-reaction to Dúchas, which provided a buffer zone and which played a valuable role. Now there are people who say we must get rid of An Taisce.