Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the statement of the Minister of State.

With regard to the workers' rights, I mentioned the work that has been done locally. The lack of a task force for these three areas has been discussed. Just transition is an important term. We need to make sure we act on it on the ground. These are three rural areas where 50 jobs will be affected. Having options from the community welfare officer will not secure appropriate jobs in that location. How that will be addressed will take a real body of work. A task force will be required in all three locations to make sure the families that have been affected by a Government decision have the right to live in these communities and not move on to where there is a suitable job location, which probably would be in an urban area and have an impact on housing issues all the way through.

The Minister of State mentioned five years regarding the ten years taken into consideration for compensation. In many ways, it is an unusual statement. In considering the five-year timeline, people will say that we should have looked at ten years. That was the cycle. Property prices are being taken on the basis of a seven-year dip in the market. Could the Minister of State confirm that the five years she picked were the five lowest years between 2016 and 2020 and exclude 2020 and 2021 which, potentially, are the two year with the highest prices? If we were to pick the five years, we need to have an appropriate five years picked that would incorporate 2021 and 2020. Realistically, a balanced approach should be taken.

The fear that the families that I have been talking to today have is that when this legislation is passed, the Department will play hardball and the big Department will sit on three small family farms and decide their fate. That is a question of trust. With the report not published, that trust is a significant issue. If the report was published before we sit again, it would give some confidence to these family farms that will be no more in a few months.

The ability then to have a mediator between the Department and these families and to have an appropriate arrangement put in place is something that we might have to talk about. If big Government is to dictate to the three farms, they have no hope because big Government will always win. How can we balance that in favour of those concerned? Is it time to propose some kind of mediation process between the Department and these farmers so that there can be an appropriate outcome that would benefit everyone?

National policy has changed. I mentioned earlier that this is unusual legislation. We are banning a farming activity. This is probably a template for something that could happen down the line. It is about building trust in the communities and in the organisations to make sure that everyone can benefit from a Government policy that we are all in favour of, including making sure that those families can survive.