Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to put on the record of the House my disbelief that last night Ireland passed into law a Bill that actually endangers nature and the wildlife of this island, a Bill that is anything but a Heritage Bill. We saw the shameless tactics deployed by the Government to get it over the line. At a committee meeting a year ago, the Minister of State, Deputy Ring, told me:

It needs to be understood that we have to live down there. If others want to visit, they are very welcome, but they do not understand the problems that we have when we have to live there for 52 weeks of the year.

The Minister of State, Deputy Ring, should know that if I go on holidays I go to France and to Spain. This is my country, and I have as much say on legislation that affects this country as Deputy Ring. The Taoiseach, Deputy Leo Varadkar, goes to the European Parliament and tells of how Ireland's action on tackling climate change has not been good enough. I look forward to the day a progressive Government repeals the Heritage Act because, quite frankly, it is trash. The first act of the Minister, Deputy Madigan, in government should have been not to proceed with the Bill. It was not her Bill, she did not draft it and she had no obligation to pursue it. I want to put on record my disbelief that we have passed a Bill that endangers the nature and wildlife of this island.