Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I engaged with him quite a bit over the summer on the NTA's delay in implementing the fair fares and the new agreed structure that is now Government policy. I am quite hopeful that the Minister of State will soon have positive news for us and the commuters who have been dependent on this fare change. I look forward to that happening.

Turning to the meat in the sandwich on the Curragh Plains issue, I appreciate that the Minister of State is extremely familiar with it being an adopted son of County Kildare and living not so far away from the area himself. I am sure he will agree with me that we must do everything in our power to protect and preserve the precious asset that is the Curragh. Over the summer, and the Minister of State will have heard me speak about this issue several times, I have been fighting hard behind the scenes to tackle the perennial issue of illegal encampments on the Curragh Plains. This year, however, has been by far the worst in living memory. There have been several different encampments. At one stage, there were six encampments, with dozens of caravans. One group, from another country, brought its own set of Portaloos, as well as generators. Major damage was caused to the Curragh and to sports facilities, namely, the Cill Dara golf club. Many issues were also caused for local people, whose animals were hurt and damaged walking on the plains. Unfortunately, local residents were intimidated and very scared.

I have been liaising with the Garda, Kildare County Council and the Department of Defence to keep this issue high on the agenda. We must see progress in tackling it. I have also been in regular contact with the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence, Deputy Micheál Martin, and his senior team, formally and informally, to ensure this issue remains high on his agenda. In correspondence received recently, the Tánaiste confirmed that he wants to ensure we move to a modern and sustainable regulatory model in managing this historically important landscape. I am glad this acceptance has been given. I have been working on trying to get such a model at national level since 2016.

I understand that the Tánaiste expects to receive a final draft of the Curragh consultancy project for review in the coming weeks. I understand as well that this report contains several strong recommendations to deal with this issue in the longer term. The Tánaiste has agreed to a meeting following his receipt of that report. I am confident that the Tánaiste understands the concerns and will play his part in ensuring we will find a solution to this issue and continue to keep pressure on to see the Curragh Plains protected.

As a public representative, however, I believe it is important to raise these very real issues on the floor of the Seanad on behalf of all those who have contacted me in recent weeks and months. Yesterday, we saw the announcement that the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher will be designated world-famous geological sites. This is the second entry because the Giants Causeway was added in 2022. I certainly feel the Curragh would merit being awarded such an honour. The ongoing issues with illegal dumping and encampments on the Curragh completely take away from the beauty of those who wish to use it daily and deter people from using this amenity. Millions of euro have been spent over the last several years in tackling the shocking waste that has been there.