Danny Healy-Rae urges reopening of rural pubs and river dredging
Danny Healy-Rae raised the plight of publicans and rural communities, urging the government and public health team to allow pubs to reopen and to increase supports for older publicans. He also warned of flood risks from blocked rivers, called for dredging, and said farmers should be allowed to clear waterways without penalty.
Rural pubs and financial support
Healy-Rae described many rural pubs that have remained closed for months, noting they employed people and face ongoing costs such as electricity and insurance. He highlighted that some publicans are over 66 and rely on pensions, that many did not qualify for the corona payment, and that a requested increase from about 100 euros to 350 euros was refused.
Access and community life
He said ordinary people who wanted a drink had to travel to towns like Killarney or Tralee and were required to take a meal, turning a short visit into a three- to four-hour outing. Healy-Rae stressed the importance of pubs for conversation and social contact and warned of mental health impacts from isolation.
Flooding risk and river clearance
He raised local flooding concerns, reporting that the Flesh River was cleared only as far as Hoosh while other sections—affecting the Lake Hotel, Fleming's Caravan site and flow out of the lakes—remain blocked. He said the Long River is blocked back to the Long Bridge and the Bay and warned that without dredging houses, roads and bridges will flood. He cited a local family, the Hoggart family, who faced large uninsured costs from repeated flooding.
Farming, cross-compliance and maintenance
Healy-Rae urged allowing farmers to clear rivers as they traditionally did, saying current cross-compliance rules stop them and result in lost payments. He described that restriction as unfair and linked it directly to the ongoing flood risk and damage.
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Yeah, thank you very much, Les Gael Coorle. I too want to raise the plight of the publicans and in places like Kilgarbon, Starte Oud, Boradur, Ratmoor, Ginewgile, Scotland, Coorl, even very little of Castle Island has opened up in line of pubs. And Noctogoshal and Brosnan, Coorl, Foyeris, Balifinan, so much of that whole countryside is still in lockdown as far as people and there's two aspects to this, there's the publicans whose doors have been shut for all these months and they were employing people. They were employing people and would be employing people and like has been said before some of these publicans are over 66 and they only have their pensions to pay for all the outlet that they have in a public house. Whether it is electricity, whether it is electricity, whether it is, you know, all the things, insurance, the insurance bill doesn't go away. And they are saddled with all these costs and they didn't qualify for the corona payment and all we asked for was that they'd be brought up from the pension about 100 euros up to the 350 and that was refused. And I think it was very unfair on these people that have been employing so many people and such value to the communities that they serve. And it's wrong on the other front end is that the ordinary men that wanted to go for a drink or two, the nearest place they could go was to Killarney or Tralee or Kinmear and they'd have to have a meal. And if they just wanted in the first place just to have two points, it meant that they were away three or four hours for to have a meal and to have their couple of points. And that's very unfair on all these people. And you have to remember that mental health is very important too. And many of these people have gone into themselves for not being able to go out and meet people. And it's not just about drinks, it's about conversation and meeting people and discussing the events of the day or the week or whatever and keeping in touch with people and they've lost all this. And I really hope, I really hope that the government and the public health team that give the green light to these premises to open on the tint of August. I know we won't be sitting but we will be still very concerned if it doesn't happen. And there has been mootings or murmurs in recent days about that it may affect schools adversely if the pubs are open. I couldn't say anything. I couldn't say anything. In relation to flooding, we were very lucky to get the Flesh River cleared down as far as it got to Hoosh. But the other half of it is still to be clear. But the other half of it is still to be clear, going into Killarney and the Flemings Caravan site prone to flooding. Use the Lake Hotel because the flow out of the lakes and taking the Flesh which the Flesh River flows out of. The Long River is all blocked back along as far as the Long Bridge and as far as the Bay. And this needs to be dredged and cleaned out. Otherwise, it cost the wonderful Hoggart family a fortune. And they weren't covered by insurance because it has happened two or three times. I believe it cost them two or three million to get opened the last time they were flooded. And it's very, very unfair. And it's very clear if we fill that glass, if it's full of water and if we put a few stones into it, the water will spill out over the top of it. And it is very clear. They can be talking about climate change until the cows come home. But if we don't clear out the rivers, you're going to have houses flooded. We're going to have roads flooded. We're going to have bridges taken away. And we need to go back and allow the farmers to clean the rivers like they always do. Thank you, Deputy. They have stopped from going now because of cross-compliance. They lose their payments. Thank you, Deputy. And it is very, very unfair what's happening. And thank you very much. Thank you very much.
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