During the week, the news of the derogation was welcome, but the real work starts now. Unfortunately, unelected bureaucrats in Europe have put in a proviso, because of the habitats directive, that over the coming years, what a cow does in a field and the impact of this on the Barrow, Nore, Suir, Blackwater, Owenriff or whatever other river will have to be screened. This will cost the State millions of euro. I do not know if there will be enough scientists to do all of this in the timeline. There is a bigger and wider problem of flooding that the Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, will have seen. The problem is that of objections and how the habitats directive is being used to block people. We see difficulties now if people try to extend a port or an airport, build a road or build a house. I have seen young people in my area who are 40 miles from Lough Corrib, but because the Sinking River goes into the River Clare and goes on to Lough Corrib, people building a house in a rural place have to spend €2,500 in case it may have an impact on the site. A few years ago in the Minister of State, Deputy Harkin's constituency, a snail that did not exist held up work on Lough Talt by Irish Water to provide water to 9,000 people or 10,000 people in the area. This cannot continue. It is blocking the Government and tying its hands. The Government has dealt with this on Lough Funshinagh as well. The Government, councils and private investors trying to make progress, be it building houses, building roads or whatever infrastructure, are all being blocked. This legislation started off in 1997, but the interpretation being used by the European Court of Justice, ECJ, kangaroo court, as I would call it, of the habitats directive, aided and abetted by NGOs funded by the State, is trying to wrap the State up in knots. It cannot continue. I commend the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan. Yesterday in Brussels, he spoke about how the ECJ interpretation of immigration and so on was becoming a problem. If the Government wants to make progress on housing, roads or all the major infrastructural projects, then Ministers in the Council of Ministers in Europe will have to get together. We are well able to come in here at times, and Europe will send over more legislation on top of what we have already on whichever item we are talking about.
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Europe is always able to add more but no one ever asks whether a mistake was made or whether the ECJ's interpretation has gone too far.
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Are we now prioritising a snail over people being able to drink water, live in a house, have a port, have an airport or farm their land?
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At the moment, we are starting on the derogation for farmers but what will happen?
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They will drive it down to the ordinary small farmer in this country. Thank you, Chair.
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I am not pointing-----
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I welcome what the Minister has said but this is the reality so far. Unfortunately, I have lived through a review of the habitat's directive. I was invited to go to a meeting. To be honest about it, I would have been better going home to count the cattle, because I wasted a day doing a review of the habitats directive. You were only allowed to speak for a few minutes and after that it was, "Good luck and good night" and nothing ever came of it. I did that a few years ago after being asked to do it. The sad part of the ECJ needs to be looked at. If I, as a person with knowledge of the matter, were asked to give evidence of the background to something, I would not even be allowed to put in the paperwork towards it when Ireland is being taken on. The Minister talked about all the different places. It is holding jobs up for six, seven or eight years. I understand that this is the first normal winter in Lough Funshinagh and I welcome that. The problem for housing and all the different projects in the country is that we are now at a stage where it is seven or eight years and we are going around in circles. This is aided and abetted by NGOs that the Government is funding. That is the reality of it. Look at the case that is going on at the moment regarding the derogation, aided and abetted by NGOs. We have to decide whether to pull the plug on their funding as well as going to Europe to explain that people have to live and that we have to change this legislation for the betterment of people.
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