P.J. Sheehan T.D. Cork South West speaking in the Private Member's Debate on Agriculture on Wednesday 3rd December in Dail Eireann.

I rise here tonight to support the small, the old, and the young farmers of Ireland that this government and this Minister for Agriculture has done so much damage to since the summer.

But I fear that the damage that you have already done to the agricultural sector which will take years to repair and recover from, is only the first stage on a slippery slope of abandoning those who derive their income from the land of our country.

My biggest fear is that is this only the first step, in a litany of damage that you will do to this vital sector of our economy.

After all we have a Minister for Agriculture who is only a few wet months in the job, who won't even admit it is wet and extend the time necessary for the Farm Waste Management programme to be completed.

This Minister allowed this budget to attack the young, the elderly, and those on low incomes involved in the Agricultural sector. The sector he is charged with on behalf of the people to protect and secure its future.

The provisions in this budget for the agricultural sector can only be described as a Slash and Burn Policy!

Slash the ambitions of those young people planning a lifetime in farming.
Slash a quarter of the income of small farmers, and  
Burn the hopes of those hoping to take life easier at the end of their working lives.

This Minister for Agriculture allowed the Minister for Finance and his mandarins to ride roughshod over the agricultural sector - But that doesn't surprise me - does anyone know a barrister who ever assisted in solving a problem?

As the IFA Leader Padraig Walsh has now stated on a number of occasions that those opposite have betrayed and forgotten their roots.

Yes I mean those opposite who stood and gave these cuts a standing ovation, and tonight like a poker player, you will sneak your hands under the table and support those cruel and miserable cuts targeted at the weakest members of the farming community.

No wonder you are at your lowest level of support ever!

Why have you abolished the Farm Retirement Scheme which was encouraging those coming to the end of their working lives to be replaced by new young energetic farmers who are needed to improve productivity of our country.

If this Government as is its stated policy is to invest in the economy, then can you tell me where the investments in agriculture are in this budget?  Instead, you have taken away the investment programmes, along with placing bureaucratic blockages on others, and trying to blame Brussels on others, when all you had to do, was lift the phone to Brussels, like the Department in Northern Ireland.

Minister, you have done nothing to improve the lot of the Farmer,
I could also add you have done nothing for the fishermen, and
in fact you have done nothing for the food sector or food consumers.

Minister, We are coming up to the Christmas break, and I would suggest that it is time you with your two junior minister's Killeen and Sargent, to go back to your office and seriously consider about what you can do to improve the future of the agricultural sector and the plight of the farmer's, some of whom are camped outside your office, and who you need to talk to.

Minister, if you can't come back in the new year with a new deal for farmers then maybe it is time that you pulled the curtains and got off the stage, because all that can be said so far of your tenure in agriculture house is that you have
                                                      A lot of damage done!
                                                                        Don't do more!


Ends:-

Wednesday November 12th 2008

Speech by Fine Gael Cork South West Deputy PJ Sheehan on Adjournment Debate regarding the recent comments by the Minister for Defence on the drug seizure in Dunlough Bay

Ceann Comhairle,

I wish to thank you for allowing this matter on the adjournment of the Dáil

Last Friday on the Pat Kenny Radio Show the Minister for Defence, when discussing the successful capture by the Navy of the Yacht ‘Dances with Waves' off the coast of South West Cork referred to the previous unsuccessful attempt to import drugs from the Yacht Lucky Day 17 months earlier. This is what he said:

‘There is a kind of a perception abroad that the previous seizure the previous huge seizure 17 months ago that you mentioned there in West Cork around the same area was something that was more or less stumbled upon by accident. That is not true. I mean that had been tracked also that is not widely known that had actually been tracked also.'

As the Minister stumbled his words, he went on to say:

‘It would probably would have been taken arrested and taken into custody had the accident not happened which precipitated the action on the part of the officials here.'

I don't know whether the Minister was still dreaming or just inventing a bit of revisionist history at this hour of the morning but I would like to know where did he come up with this fairytale?

It totally contradicts the statements by everyone else involved in this matter including senior Garda officers who on the day described the capture as ‘An act of God'.

It also contradicts the evidence given by Commander Gene Ryan of the Irish Naval Service in the trial of some of those charged and convicted over these events, who in an interview with the News at One on RTE Radio One on the 23rd July this year at the conclusion of the trial, explained how he traced the journey of the yacht from the records of two satellite phones recovered from the stricken RIB and with the specialist technical help from the Iridium Satellite Phone company which involved many thousands of man hours to plot the history of their movements.

It also contradicts the statement by Customs Official, Brian Smyth, at the joint task force press conference last week when he likened the illegal transportation of the massive volume of cocaine to the shipment which was ‘fortuitously intercepted off the West Cork coast last year' .

I wish to also point out that the new European Maritime Analysis and Operation Centre Narcotics only started it operational status on the 25th July 2007 three weeks after Dunlough event.

I have heard of delays in the operation of government organisations all my political life but I have never heard of one starting before its starting date. Will the Minister confirm that the Gardai, the Navy, or Customs were not tracking the movements of the yacht named Lucky Day before the 2nd day of July 2007?

Will the Minister confirm that the Minister or any one of the states agencies including the Gardai, Navy, or Customs were aware that any other agency was tracking this vessel before the 2nd July 2007?

Will the Minister also further confirm that there was no Garda or Customs or Naval operation in progress on the 2nd July 2007 to monitor the movements of this vessel and its occupants or the activies of others on land which led to the arrest of the four men subsequently convicted or others who may have been involved in this illegal attempt to import drugs into this country before the communications received from the local coastguard unit to a member of the Gardai on the 2nd July 2007?

Will the Minister also congratulate the professional work and expertise of the Coastguard unit which arrived first on the scene and raised the alarm with the authorities?

The said Minister has often a great turn of phrase but in this case I think we can call it “Premature Recollection”

Ends.

Irish Times 29th November 2008 by Miriam Lord

Ends
Mr P.J. Sheehan TD Agriculture with Special Responsibility for Forestry

Tuesday 21 October 2008

Speech by Fine Gael Cork South West Deputy PJ Sheehan on his Party's Private Members' Motion To Reverse The Abolition of The Automatic Right To An Over 70s Medical Card

Ceann Comhairle,

I rise to defend all of those who have retired, and all of those who have built our nation to what it is today, having at times paid an effective tax rate of up to sixty percent during their working career or caring for our children.

As somebody who has worked all my life in politics to help the weaker members of the community, I believe this is the meanest decision I have ever seen.

We will see very soon if those opposite, who gave the Budget speech a standing ovation, have the guts to admit they got it wrong and vote to reverse this decision which tried to take the full medical card from nine out of ten elderly people who were entitled to this scheme.

My real concern is that many of these people whose sense of security has been taken from them will be unable to go to their doctor or afford the prescribed drugs and will end up in hospital at a greater cost to the taxpayer.

As this decision taken during the summer and the Budget brought forward by two months to allow the overburdened bureaucrats in the HSE time to process the means test you should have been consulting the IMO.

Now that we have a self assessment medical card would you not like another two months to redraft the budget regarding the medical card, the Lenihan Levy, the savage cuts in teaching posts, the welfare payments to the disabled, the charging of nurses for parking while on night shift? Will you charge the Bray Firemen for their parking last Friday night?

The facts of the history of this matter are a classic example of Fianna Fail Stroke politics.

In the year of 2000 in a campaign from this side of the house it was constantly pointed out that only 29% of the population were being awarded medical cards while the general medical scheme agreement with the Irish Medical Organisation allowed up to 40% of the population to be covered by this scheme.

The Minister for Health Michael Martin chose to do the wrong thing. He proposed at a stroke of a pen that the medical card should be extended without reference to income to everyone over seventy on the first of May 2001 to entice the grey vote to vote for Fianna Fail.

But his mismanagement does not end there. He underestimated the number of over 70s by more than half. He had no comprehension of the Medical Card Scheme.

So he had to re-negotiate a whole new scheme at short notice, while fighting the South Tipperary bye election where he had no room to wriggle.

No wonder the IMO were able to negotiate such a good deal for their members when they were dealing with such an incompetent minister. Someone else used a phrase at the time to describe another bad Government deal: "[it] was like turning up at an ATM machine to withdraw cash".

That mess was bad enough but the same Minister was also responsible for PPARS and the nursing home rebates. If it was not the multiple faults of this Minister at the taxpayer's expense, we would now have a much healthier book of estimates.

A Government that could take this decision has lost all touch with reality, all touch with its electorate, and has broken the trust of the people who elected them.

This Government is so long in office that they now are being forced to correct their own mistakes

I hope that for the next Budget, which will probably come a lot sooner than you think, that those in the benches opposite will hold their hands in their pockets rather than jumping to their feet with a standing ovation for their minister, to remember they are here to represent their constituent's not the stroke politics that we have seen on this issue.

I commend the motion un-amended by the backslappers to the House.

Ends

Speech by PJ Sheehan TD, Cork South West, during the Budget Debate
Dáil Éireann on Thursday, 23 October 2008

Well I have seen it all now!

Have Fianna Fail learnt nothing?

I thought that Brian Cowen said he wanted to set Sean Lemass as his role model and follow his dynamic leadership in building a new Ireland in making brave decisions for the good of all the Irish people.

But I now know that you wanted to follow the proven failures of De Valera, whether that was in economics or all his other policies that have proved to be failures over the course of time.

Instead of dancing at the crossroads we now have singing at the crossroads.  

Was it a coincidence that Budget Day was Eamon De Valera's Birthday?

And boy did you go back in time to make the same mistakes?

Will you ever learn?

Let me remind the Taoiseach who is responsible for handing his colleague the misfortune to become the Minister for Finance.

Let me remind him what one of De Valera's adversaries once said:

“We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle”

That was said by one Winston Churchill.

In 1997 you were left a strong, sound economy.

At that time the volume of exports was growing at 17%; now it has collapsed to just 6%.  Under that Government, productivity was growing at 8% per annum; now it has collapsed to just 2%.  Then, our market share increased by 25% in four years; this Government has cut it by 20% in four years.

To use one of your own phrases you could say that the economy was slowly roasting on the barbeque.  And you took it and shoved in the Microwave and turned it up to turbo power.  And when you saw the steam leaking out from the top, bottom, and all sides you watched in amazement and did nothing and assured us at the same time we would have a soft centre.  Now you wonder why you have to clean up the explosion of debris on all sides of your cooking experiment.

And now you are blaming the whole world but not your little version of COWARD ECONOMICS.

When I look at our two financial wizards, the two Brians, I am reminded of those famous black and white films in De Valera's time of two fellows in black suits and one says to the other:

“This is another nice mess you have got me into.”

Now let me deal with the detail.  Did I not hear the Taoiseach in his Budget speech last year say and I quote:

 “ The National Development Plan is my top priority.  Postponing or delaying it would be a major policy error.  It would damage activity next year and impair our quality of life in future.”

What another nice mess!

Did I not also hear the Taoiseach state:

“The question of medical cards for vulnerable families is a priority for this Government. The Programme for Government contains a commitment to double the income eligibility limit for parents of children less than 6 years of age and to treble it for parents of children with an intellectual disability less than 18 years of age.”

Well that puts a whole new meaning to that phrase:

“A lot done, more to do”

To remove the entitlement automatically to a medical card for those over 70 has been another fine example of this Government maladministration when you bribed the electorate but wasted their money to do it.

Your Minister at the time, still around the table with you, didn't have a clue how many people were over 70 at that time and underestimated by half the total number.  He had not consulted the doctors and ended up paying them five times what he was paying them for those under 70.

It is not the fault of the over 70s that Michael Martin did not read another of his briefing papers that had the taxpayer pay the exorbitant cost of providing these golden medical cards but to remove this security from the elderly, and possibly infirm, in tough times shows a very mean streak in this Government and this to be linked to a reduction to the standard rate for tax rebates on medical expenses.

Does this include nursing home charges for those who have provided to be able to pay their own nursing home costs, or those who have paid for three weeks nursing home recuperation after surgery, or those who do not want to enter the fair deal, or the employment of carers for an elderly relative?

What a wonderful effort to protect the weak and vulnerable.

The Minister for Finance is proposing to raise an extra €2 billion from the hard pressed taxpayer.

Well, Taoiseach, a large portion of that figure is accounted for by glaring mistakes by your Ministers such as PPARS, illegal nursing home charge refunds, electronic voting, additional costs of over 70s medical cards, Bertie Bowl, Thornton Hall, Punchestown, Kenmare Marina, M50 Toll Bridge, and so on.  

10 percent reduction in their salaries my eye – they should all have been fired!

There was a TV star called “The Six Million Dollar Man”.  Well now we have the Six Billion Euro Wasters!

Yes, Wasters.  Let me give you an example.  Last week I tabled a Parliamentary Question about providing road side facilities for tourists visiting Ireland using motor caravans.  The Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism refused to answer the question, stating he had no official responsibility.  The Minister for Environment likewise.  The Minister for Transport answered that it was a matter for the National Roads Authority.  Well, let me tell you wasters that is not only the construction industry and the banking sector that are in trouble - the tourist industry had its worst year in years and if three Ministers want to absolve their responsibilities rather than roll up their sleeves and get stuck in when times are tough then they are wasters

What did this budget do to stimulate Economic growth?
Did it do anything to stimulate employment?
Did it do anything to promote tourism?
Did it do anything for the people of West Cork?
Did it do anything to promote agriculture?

No, he abolished the Farm Installation Grant and in a further insult to the elderly he abolished the farm retirement scheme and several other cuts which will be secretly revealed over the coming months.

The only person with a smirk around this house last week was the Taoiseach's former junior Minister with his new hard hat.  But he might need a full face helmet by the time of the next budget not only to hide his face but to protect his neck.

I could also mention the fishing industry.  The saying was that, ‘a rising tide would raise all boats'; well the fishing boats are rising and falling with every tide on the quay wall.

What did this budget do for the fishermen of this country who won't even have the one percent?

Now that the Minister and Government have taken the soft option of 30 stealth taxes and by doubling the borrowing requirement in nine months let me remind them of that old saying:

“Borrowing, like scratching, is only good for a while.”
And this Government has been found out and your days are numbered.

Ends