Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am not going to welcome the Minister to the House as I have done it before. However, I will compliment him on the N5 national primary route, which I have raised with him many times and he will know did not have a good safety record, and the bypass from Ballaghaderreen to Scramoge. Many people said to me that the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and the Government would not let the project go through but they did. He also added something significant, about which people are very happy. Provision was made for cycleways and walkways around the towns of Strokestown and Elphin, which is a really good thing to build into road projects like this.

The roads through the centre of County Roscommon had been neglected for some time. People were really concerned about safety issues and, unfortunately, many people lost their lives on the road over the past 35 years. I remember many people from my own area who lost their lives . The roads will be far safer now and environmentally the walkways and cycleways will be built in, which is great.

All of this work relates to the climate change Bill and is so important. The world has moved on and climate change is a fact. Nobody can stand in any Parliament in Europe or in the world and say that climate change is not happening. If one looks at the records for the increase in temperature over the past 80 years one will see a temperature rise of a couple of degrees Fahrenheit, which is very serious for the world in terms of water supply, wildfires and health issues.

The Minister has provided funding for projects on the Royal Canal, which is fantastic. Of course he is probably is aware of the fact that we are developing, around the Royal Canal, a walkway from Clondra, County Longford to Strokestown, County Roscommon where the National Famine Museum is housed. I will probably knock on his door seeking more funds for that and we have got some already. Again, these projects are very important.

In terms of today's Bill, I agree with much of what many speakers have said. From the point of view of a rural constituency, I welcome a lot of what Senators Boyhan and Currie have said here today.

First, we should recognise that all of the farming groups accept that there must be environmental change. The farming groups have environmental committees and when one speaks to them they acknowledge that change must take place. That change is more of a challenge for them, however, and I believe that is understood by the Minister.

As for the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, negotiations, a point the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, and the Government undoubtedly are highly conscious of is that we need to compensate farmers properly in respect of environmental issues, going forward. The Minister recognises the fantastic food production chain we have in this country. The amount of money generated each year from exports from our food chain is phenomenal and, as he well knows, the sector supports many thousands of jobs. I agree that the expansion of cattle herds is not the best thing but perhaps we could hold the number where it is and perhaps some farmers could have the option to change to horticulture, for example. I initially came from a horticultural background before going into media. I would like the horticultural industry completely overhauled. Not alone would there be diversification for some farmers but it would really be good for the environment in terms of the amount of produce that we still import into country that could be grown here.In every supermarket I go into, I see blueberries from Morocco, Peru, Spain and Portugal, yet they grow very well on Bord na Móna lands or bog soil. It is a project we should get back into. I know that for some time, Bord na Móna in County Kildare had a very successful project. Maybe there might be an issue with how effective it would be financially in terms of diversification for some farmers, but would it not be great if we compensated or grant aided farmers or even had a pilot scheme to persuade some farmers to go into the production of blueberries?

We are importing quite a lot of potatoes, which is shocking. We have a great climate for producing potatoes yet we are importing them. The Minister knows as well as I do that when all this stuff is coming from all over the world in cargo planes and ships, it is not helping to keep emissions down. I think the Minister has the foresight to do this. We might not agree with him on everything but one thing we must say in all honesty is that he is so committed and dedicated to this, on which I compliment him. We need very much to take the farming sector into account and I think it will happen under the Minister. We must understand that farmers are in a difficult position.

Just transition is important. I have no doubt about the Minister's commitment but, again, in terms of re-wetting bogs in Roscommon, Longford, Offaly and Galway, we have still only taken back a tiny amount of Bord na Móna workers to do it. I think there were to be 300-plus people employed in that. The latest figures I have show that 120 or 130 people are employed. We need to ramp that up as quickly as possible and give employment back to those people who were promised it under just transition. We all know just transition had to happen but we now need the funds that have been made available to be put there. I do not know who is holding them up. It is not the Minister but I ask him to take that on board, have a look at it again and make sure those workers get back to their jobs as quickly as possible.