I wish the Taoiseach well with the new legislation he is bringing forward in relation to infrastructure. If it is not emergency legislation, we will be caught again down the road with regard to housing, motorways, roads, waterways and sewerage. How would the Taoiseach like to get this message? I welcome the new legislation but this is another part. The Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, was set up by the State.
Sentiment score: 0.30
The EPA. An Bord Pleanála was set up by the State. I got a message the other day from a guy I know in the west who employs 200 people. Howya Fitz? Eighteen months now and we are still waiting for planning. €3 million spent before that. €3 million to spend. Someone else called last week from An Bord Pleanála to have another walk around. Business doesn't wait, Fitz. We have worked in specialised manufacturing, in pharmaceuticals and in microchips. We are now in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. 200 people employed, 40 more jobs to be created. I am fed up of State agencies. Denmark want us to move production with a building straight away, no objections. They appreciate business. Sad to say, but we have always tried to make sure we create jobs in Ireland. It's a sad thing to say, Fitz, that we may have to move. "The system," he said, is "f" and it ended with "d". I would use the word "broken". That is the word of a person who is creating jobs in this country. That is An Bord Pleanála, ABP. The State is also responsible for the EPA. A few months ago, I saw George Lee talking about peat being extracted illegally. A person went through one county and we will have a report next week to show that with regard to everything on one county, misinformation was given out. At the moment the EPA is talking about farmers. At the moment, outside every water treatment plant, where the water is exiting, there are enough videos done by ordinary people right around this country to show what is coming out at the exit. Why are there not analytics or basic information they can put there to know the flow and the type of stuff coming out? These are two agencies set up by different Governments - not the current Government but different Governments. These are two agencies that are failing people in this country.
Sentiment score: 0.02
The Taoiseach's new legislation - and I wish him well on it - has nothing to do with this. How are we going to get these people to do their jobs efficiently, properly and fairly for the people of this country?
Sentiment score: 0.49
As I said earlier, I welcome the legislation he is proposing but it talks about ABP judicial reviews - I agree that there are too many of them - and how it will be more difficult, to put it simply. There are different tweaks like that and the Taoiseach is talking about emergency legislation but I am talking about an ordinary person who is creating jobs in rural Ireland. In the west, 200 jobs to us are the same as 4,000 in Intel. That is the reality. The problem is that before we go to judicial review or keep going on all the other parts the Government is bringing in - as I said, I welcome that - the State agency, ABP, has held these people up. The board of directors of this company is meeting next to decide whether they will pull plant in Ireland and go to Denmark. That is a sad reflection from people who set up a business in Ireland, employ Irish people and would die for this country. We need to make sure there is accountability. I am not talking about the judicial reviews. All of that stuff is further on.
Sentiment score: 0.02
I welcome what the Taoiseach is doing and I am not going against that but what I am saying is that the State agencies are not doing their jobs to help facilitate these businesses.
Sentiment score: 0.68