Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. As many speakers have said, he is an honourable man. One of the most important qualities in politics is to be able to listen and understand people. I have often defended the Minister in rural areas, particularly with some farming groups. I have said the Minister will listen and understand and knows we have challenges, particularly in agricultural areas. From speaking to him, I know what the Minister wants to do for small and medium-sized farmers. He wants to make farming pay for them and come up with new ideas.

Although I spent the past 20 years in radio and television, I trained in horticulture and I have a great understanding of the horticultural business. I constantly go on about the opportunities we are missing - I know the Minister is on my side on this - by not having a brand new plan for horticulture. When I was writing up part of the Fianna Fáil policy on horticulture for the party's Government programme, I looked at the amount of money we spend on importing vegetables and fruits. We cannot grow all fruits here but if we take Bramley apples as an example, most of the apples bought in this country come from France. While we sometimes get severe frost which can hamper apple growth, we have a perfect climate for growing apples. So much could be done in that regard. I know the Acting Chairman has a big interest in the horticultural business as well.

There are opportunities and the Minister will work with us all. He will not say a certain Senator is from this or that party. We have proof of that in our part of the country in just transition, to which some of my colleagues referred. We have a huge commitment on this from the Government. I told people in the area that the Government and Minister would deliver. Just transition is now well accepted in the area. I hope we can dot the i's and cross the t's.

Replacing the loss of Bord na Móna jobs is a major issue for my locality. In every second house in my area, somebody was either in the ESB or Bord na Móna. If we accounted for every job linked in to the demise of the ESB and Bord na Móna, we are talking about not a hundred or five hundred but thousands of jobs. These companies were the economic lifeline of the midlands for 70 years. Their demise presents a major challenge but it gives me great comfort that we can talk to the Minister and Government and they understand that we need assistance. We need more assistance and I know the Minister will come to speak to us and get all of our views. There is access to all areas. Substantial funding was provided for a boat on the River Shannon. Having lost our power stations, the distillery in Lanesborough has been huge for counties Roscommon and Longford and even for parts of counties Offaly and Galway.

I will make a brief point on the power stations. I am probably fighting a losing battle but I think the demolition of the power stations at Shannonbridge and Lanesborough, which is still in planning, will be a major opportunity lost. We have an opportunity to keep the power houses and develop them as a tourism museum. We could keep some of the railway tracks to bring people onto our bogs and talk to them about flora and fauna. That would be a massive project but it would be environmentally friendly and good for the area. The planning states clearly that the power stations have to be demolished. I would like that requirement to be reviewed and the power stations retained, certainly in the short term.

I implore the Minister to push the N5 national primary route. It is a €200 million project that is ready to go between Ballaghaderreen and Scramoge near Strokestown and not far from the Longford border. This section of road has a poor safety record and many lives have been lost on it. We need to get the works done. The project must be committed to and I hope capital funding will be provided for it next year.