Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I realise we are speaking to the section, but we are having a broad debate. I had to contribute on the previous day. I had not decided whether I would not speak until the end or at all. I had to stand up and defend farmers, given some of the language being used.

I appreciate that today we have come full circle. It was I who said the previous day that farmers are the custodians of the hedgerows and of nature in rural Ireland. I also said the previous day that as a farmer I have sowed more hedges and hedgerows than I have ever removed or cut.